ADAMS, Mass. — The town and the Adams Housing Authority this week formalized a payment in lieu of taxes agreement that's at least 40 years old. 

 

The payments to the town relate to two different types of housing programs — Family Low-Income Housing and special needs, said Housing Authority Executive Director William Schrade. 

 

"What has been realized is that while doing some research because of the special assessment tax, and just make sure all those were correct, is that we realized that since the '80s, there's not been a signed agreement, even though we've been paying our taxes all along," he said. "What is exempt, unfortunately, is our elderly/disabled, which is on Columbia Street."

 

The formula for the assessments on the properties is simple, said Schrade: half the value by the tax rate plus $100 times the number of bedrooms. 

 

Town Administrator Jay Green said the agreements were in the context of recouping municipal costs for services provided. 

 

"The Housing Authority wants to pay its share of what the costs are going to be for the municipality, even though they are technically partially exempt by law," he said.  

 

The authority owns a half-dozen or so buildings in addition to the Columbia Street complex but Schrade said it was seeking permission from the state to sell off two, a vacant lot on East Road and a building on North Summer Street, which would put them back on the tax rolls. 

 

The board voted to enter into the agreements and authorized the town administrator to sign it. 

 

The board also approved fee increases for the Community Development Department. Director Eammon Coughlin said the office had looked into the costs for special permits and site plan review, including notifying abuttors and posting notices in the print newspaper as required by state law.

 

He recommended doubling the current fee of $100 to cover the costs and to increase various other fees for the same reasons. This will align closer with other communities and is the first increase since 2013.

 

"I think these are really modest fee increase," Coughlin said. "It's really to cover our advertising costs."

 

Rules and regulations recommended by the Cemetery Commission were also adopted, including a $500 fee for funerals that extended past noon on Saturday. 

 

Commissioner Bruce Shepley said most of the language changes are to align with current practices, such as interments being done between 7:30 and 2 weekdays and 7:30 to 11 on Saturdays because of Department of Public Work hours. It was also decided that a resident was someone who could show proof via tax bill or utility bill. 

 

Selectman Joseph Nowak asked about the $500 Saturday fee, what the cut off would be, would it 2 minutes or 20 minutes after noon and who would decide? 

 

"Other communities have this rule and they do have a fee, some of them charge $1,000," said Green. "It's for deterrent purposes. You know, it's a very tricky situation when you have a grieving family. The funeral director doesn't necessarily want to rush the events and our DPW employees will not, you know, interfere. But all Saturday interments are on overtime."

 

Shepley said he had spoken to a local funeral director about the issue and that he had been "pleased to see some teeth" in the regulation. He assured Nowak that funeral directors would all be notified of the change and that would be conveyed to families.  

 

As for determining a cutoff time for the charge, "I don't know how you define that," Shepley said, "but I think if there is an issue and the DPW worker or workers assigned on that Saturday, have a complaint about it, that might warrant that surcharge."

 

Selectman Howard Rosenberg questioned a rule stating a 48-hour notice for an interment, pointing out the Jewish faith required burial in 24 hours. Shepley said the commission had not run into that issue before but he would check with the funeral directors. 

 

"You can add language that says with exception given for religious purposes or religious needs," said Green. 

 

The board voted to amend "with exception to accommodate religious customs."

 

Shepley was also questioned on the state of the cemeteries in relation to accommodating more burials. He responded that there has been a change in customs with fewer burials and more cremains being interred. The board could get more data on lots sold and burials, but his opinion was "there's still plenty of room in Bellevue ... there's still some families with rights to Maple Street."

 

Finally, the board signed a sharing services agreement with the town of Savoy at $10,000 a year to provide services through the Council on Aging. 

 

Director Sarah Fontaine said an initial agreement had been for $35,000 that had spilled into another year in part because of the pandemic. Now that she could run some statistical data, her recommendation was the lower amount based on usage and proportional to the number of Savoy residents. 

 

Savoy makes up about 4 percent of the COA's clients, so it will be charged 4 percent of the budget; Adams residents make uip 92 percent and Cheshire and North Adams the other 4 percent.