Adams Amends Proposed Budget; Tax Rate To Decrease
 Renovations of the visitors center to create a larger open space for Council on Aging activities will cost about $80,000. The cost will be offset in health insurance savings. |
Town Administrator Jonathan Butler said he finished negotiations with town employees regarding changing the percentages paid for employee health insurance policies. That will save the town $160,000 by shifting a larger percent of the premium cost to the employee.
The savings was added into the proposed 2013 budget on Wednesday night with a series of amendments that include funds to renovate the Discover the Berkshire Visitors Center, to install a new boiler at the Department of Public Works and for engineering for the extension of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail from Lime Street to Hodges Cross Road in North Adams.
"These changes are good changes. Really good changes," Butler said. "The town of Adams budget is going down 26 cents on the tax rate. We are lowering the town budget for the first time since I've been town administrator."
With the amended budget, the property tax rate per $1,000 valuation is expected to decrease from $17.26 to $17 — excluding the debt exclusion of 22 cents for the Hoosac Valley High School project.
"Even with the excluded amount, the tax rate is still decreasing by 4 cents," Butler said.
The big-ticket items are $80,000 to renovate the visitors' center to accommodate the Council on Aging, $35,000 for a new DPW boiler and $25,000 to be set aside for planning the rail trail.
Butler said he plans on matching the $25,000 rail trail money with the town's Chapter 90 funds and then asking North Adams to match that — thus starting off with a $100,000 pot for the engineering work.
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The tax bill on an average single-family home in Adams, valued at $143,229, in 2011, will go down about $6 next fiscal year.At the visitors' center, while the Council on Aging is moving in, the town is still hoping to contract out the operation of a volunteer staffing program to continue providing information to visitors.
Butler hopes to hire an individual or organization to run the building for $1,200 a month as a visitors' center. Whomever is contracted to oversee the program must be there for 15 hours a week and that the center should be open for a minimum of 35 hours and five days a week. The contracted party would oversee all of the operations.
"We plan to write one check a month for the service and that's going to be it," Butler said. "We thought that this was the smartest way to do this."
Tags: Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, capital projects, property taxes, town budget,
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