West Stockbridge — Although the town’s fiscal year 2024 tax rate is pending state approval, residents should prepare themselves for a higher tax bill, on average.
Regional Tax Assessor Harald M. Scheid presented recommendations to the West Stockbridge Select Board on December 4, with the group unanimously approving a single-property-class fiscal year 2024 tax rate of $9.58 per $1,000 valuation, a decrease from fiscal year 2023’s $10.31 per $1,000 valuation. According to Scheid, although the new rate is lower year over year, property values have increased 5.2 percent for single family homes, with the average single-family home for fiscal year 2024 valued at $650,300, an increase over the 2023 average value of $574,500 for the same home. That valuation increase translates into a $307 greater annual tax bill for the average single-family homeowner, year over year, he said. In fiscal year 2023, the average single-family homeowner paid $5,923 in property taxes, with the average single-family homeowner’s fiscal year 2024 bill estimated at $6,230.
Following a protracted discussion with TurnPark Art Space Technical Director Jared Gelormino via Zoom, the Select Board unanimously limited the entertainment license of the organization to 9 p.m. for amplified sounds. Board members stated that TurnPark retains the option of continuing the program until 10 p.m. but without amplification. Restaurant Amici’s entertainment license was approved with an ending time of 9 p.m. The Foundry’s entertainment license ending time was approved for 10 p.m.
The TurnPark vote stems from the group’s main fundraising event, the Summer Festival, which fell under last year’s license ending time of 10 p.m. During the meeting’s Citizen Speak session, Truc Nguyen, resident and owner of local restaurant Truc Orient Express, addressed the dais about TurnPark’s June event, which she described as “extremely loud” and impacting her business when customers wanted to sit on the deck. “I believe other people in town called the police that day because [the event] was outrageous and a few of my friends in Stockbridge said they heard slight rumblings too,” Nguyen said. “Just something to please take into consideration if you’re granting this—take into account how it impacts other people.”
Member Andrew Potter said he had heard from others, besides Nguyen, that the event was loud due to the amplification. “Ten o’clock is pretty late for outdoor, loud, amplified music,” he said. “We could make it amplified [cutoff at] 9 [p.m.] and it could continue without amplification. The amplification is pretty serious—it’s significant.”
Gelormino responded that the event “is a little bit loud,” but after Nguyen’s complaints that included law enforcement, the sound measured around 50 decibels. Although he said town law provided his group with a 10 p.m. entertainment license end time, only the West Stockbridge regulations pertaining to single-day event permits restrict the permit’s use to 10 p.m. “Really it’s not as loud as people are saying,” Gelormino said. “It is one time a year. We’re really diligent about the sounds.”
He said he was against the board ending amplification of the event at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m., adding that police are at the event and sound decibels are tested. He said the group closed out around 9 p.m. this past year due to the complaints about the amplification.
Chair Kathleen Keresey said she spoke with police officers who said the decibel levels “were not excessively high” at the time. However, she said that level is difficult to determine because the measurements weren’t reflective of the levels for the period the notifying calls came in.
Potter said he was trying to present what he considered “a reasonable compromise,” a “neighborly compromise.”
At the meeting, the board also approved:
- Alcohol licenses for Truc Orient Express Inc., WS Public Market, Queensboro Wine & Spirits, Amici, Heirloom Lodge, and The Foundry;
- Entertainment licenses for Amici and The Foundry; and
- Auto Class II and III and Taxi licenses for Troy’s Garage and William Kie.
