WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With fewer than three weeks left until a special Fire District meeting to decide whether to build a new station on Main Street, a district committee Thursday talked publicly for the first time about the potential property tax implications.
Jeffrey Thomas, the chair of the district's Community Advisory Committee, walked his members through four different bond payment scenarios at Thursday's hybrid meeting of the committee.
Based on numbers Thomas presented, the property tax bill for a single-family home with a median value of $358,600 would go up by between $319 and $351 over the life of a 25-year bond, depending on how the debt repayment is structured.
Thomas presented four repayment scenarios that district officials will have to choose from if a bond authorization vote succeeds at the Feb. 28 special district meeting.
The options ranged from an "equal principal payment" scenario, where the district would pay back the same percentage of the principal each year but interest payments are larger on the front end to a "level debt service" scenario that keeps the bond repayment steady over the life of the 25-year bond.
All four scenarios assumed the district would deliver a building with a cost not to exceed $22.5 million, as previously agreed to by the Prudential Committee, which governs the district, a separate taxing authority apart from the rest of town government.
All four scenarios also accounted for the $5 million gift from Williams College, which will ultimately reduce how much of the $22.5 million needs to be funded through bonding. Thomas' numbers did not assume the district's success in its request that the town's Select Board allocate up to $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to the station project.
In terms of the annual property tax rate, Thomas' numbers showed taxpayers would see increases in the tax rate on average of 89 cents per $1,000 $100,000 of assessed value to 94 cents per $1,000 $100,000 during the 25-year life of the bond.
Where that average lands depends on how much debt repayment gets front-loaded. In one scenario, for example, the rate would spike at $1.38 per $1,000 $100,000 in the first year of the loan and then taper off.
Voters will be asked on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at Williamstown Elementary School whether to authorize the bonding needed to build a new station. The question will need a two-thirds majority in the affirmative in order to move forward.
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Waubeeka Plans Glowball Tournament for Charity
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Golfers will light up the night sky and support a charity that helps underserved communities around the world at Waubeeka Golf Links this week.
Waubeeka will host a Glowball Tournament on Saturday, Aug. 17, from 7 to 10 p.m., to benefit Hope International, a Pennsylvania-based Christian charity dedicated to sharing "the hope of Christ as we provide biblically based training, savings services, and loans that restore dignity and break the cycle of poverty."
Chris Kapiloff, who purchased the golf course earlier this year, has firsthand experience with Hope International, having picked and roasted coffee beans alongside residents of Rwanda on a visit with his family in 2019.
"Hope International is a phenomenal organization," Kapiloff said this week. "My wife and I really like supporting organizations that help children. There are lots of good organizations with lots of good causes, organizations that help people who can't help themselves.
"Hope does an amazing job helping people who can work, who can be creative with just a small break and be amazing. Hope provides banking to people who live in the middle of nowhere, who normally don't have access to banking. It provides training for small businesses."
Founded in 1997, the non-denominational charity fosters economic development in two dozen countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Hope International offers mentoring, training and loans to help people in developing nations launch or expand their businesses.
Golfers will light up the night sky and support a charity that helps underserved communities around the world at Waubeeka Golf Links this week. click for more
Williams College will be back before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday for a development plan review for the school's planned art museum at the Field Park rotary.
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The Milne Library's Building and Grounds Committee on Thursday recommended that the director move ahead with several repairs to the building. click for more
The exhibit, "Edgar Degas: Multi-Media Artist in the Age of Impressionism," coincides with the 150th anniversary of the first impressionist exhibition, which was held in Paris in 1874.
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