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MIDDLEFIELD INFO
A few observations and a repository of information for a small town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts _____________________________________________________________________________________________
A RAID ON THE TOWN TREASURY
I had been planning to construct this web site for several weeks as it seems our local Selectboard is in disarray, unable to prioritize and constantly over-stepping their authority. In May of 2019 Curt Robie, who was then a member of the Finance Committee, somehow had placed on the ATM warrant an article to ultimately spend $25k to map the town’s cemeteries with ground penetrating radar. He never checked with the Cemetery or Historical Commissions as to the need for such an undertaking - nor did he provide any rationale. I replied with a Letter to the Editor and spoke against the article at the meeting. The article was defeated and I thought Robie was fully discredited. The warrant article could have never been placed without the co-operation of Joe Kearns, Finance Chair. Like a zombie returning from the dead, Robie was elected to the Selectboard in 2021 during the Covid peak. He has since been inventing places to spend money with no plan or sense of priority. The Finance Committee needs our full support to counter this raid on the treasury. _______________________________________
I received the following in today’s (Jan. 3rd) mail in the form of a town newsletter.
Also in my mail was the latest tax bill. I was shocked to see my bill had increased by 20% with no change in valuation. The tax rate for FY 2024 increased from last year’s 16.55 mils to 19.84 mils. Middlefield now has the 7th highest rate in the State. “Well, into everyone’s life, some rain must fall”. How insulting and out of touch. We are also warned of another tax increase in May – “We will try to estimate next year’s increase”. The annual (2022-DOR) income for a Middlefield citizen is $17,257. This is about 33% of the state average. Middlefield is the 5th or 6th poorest town in the state. 50% of the Town’s residents are over 60 years old. A thousand-dollar tax increase will destroy many elderly household budgets. The Selectboard has raised the tax levy by 22.7% over the FY 2023 amount. The increase was $285,470. The tax increase was within the levy limit so proposition 2.5 was not breached. The Town has $514k squirreled away in stabilization accounts. Why wasn’t it used to stabilize the tax rate? I’ve heard of plans for a police station to garage the cruiser, an elevator for the museum and $40k for tasers for the police. If you believe the Selectboard has gone off the tracks, please consider the following remedies:
1) Prepare a citizen’s initiative for an Underride vote at the ATM. The levy limit should be reduced to $1.4M or an amount to limit the damage by a rogue Selectboard. Taxes could increase by another $150k in May given the present levy limit. Beware of Override votes at STMs.
2) Initiate a recall vote to remove Ann Marie Visconti and Curt Robie from the Selectboard. 3) Return most reserve monies to reduce the tax burden. These are just slush funds if a specific use is not identified. The Town has ample credit in case of an emergency. 4) The Finance Committee needs new leadership. This body should be setting the financial budgets and priorities but at times has ceded that responsibility to our Imperial Selectboard. Historic Finance Committees have issued direct reports to the citizenry when Selectboards run amuck. 1962 Finance Report (Nothing changes) 5) Finance to prepare a cost/benefit analysis and review of every town agency/position versus externally provided services, as well as all planned capital expenditures.
____________________________________________________________________________________________ What do you think of the tax increase and Selectboard antics? Contact me at howard@knic.com so I can gauge support for future actions. Your name and email will be kept private. Thank you ____________________________________________________________________________________________
I have more to say and much to add to this permanent site. The partial list at the left will be filled during the coming weeks and months. I will invite others with opinions on Town governance to take part by providing guest commentaries and observations. Let me know if you wish to contribute. Sanity is the only requirement.
Links: FY 24 Levy Limit Calculation – DLS
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