Letters: Housing Committee Working to Expand Opportunities

To the Editor:

Williamstown is becoming increasingly older and wealthier. Young families and singles have limited options for rental and owner-occupied housing that is affordable. Though home prices here have declined somewhat over the last several years, home ownership is still out of reach for many.

The Affordable Housing Committee seeks to increase the availability of housing that is affordable for those who
live or work in Williamstown. A range of housing options will contribute to the economic and age diversity that is essential for the town’s future.

Williamstown has many amenities: natural beauty, cultural institutions, good schools, and well-run town government. Towns with these advantages tend to have higher housing costs than towns that lack them. There is, however, another factor at work: land use. We must face the fact that the decisions we make about land use impact housing costs.

The Town of Williamstown is approximately 47 square miles: 30,000 acres. Currently, 89 percent of our land is forest, wetlands, cropland, pasture or in conservation. That leaves 11 percent available for residential, commercial and municipal use. It is undeniable that the limited amount of land available for residential use drives up housing costs.

These six people constitute the full membership of the Williamstown Affordable Housing Committee.

Bilal Ansari
Charles Bonenti
Van Ellet
Cheryl Shanks
Leigh Short
Catherine Yamamoto
Williamstown
March 4, 1993

Williamstown Fire Committee Sees FY27 Budget with Sizable Operational Increase

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, March 31, 2026

The Prudential Committee held its first meeting in the new station in late March with Treasurer Billie Jo Sawyer, left and committee members Lindsay Neathawk, David Moresi and Craig Pedercini.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee last week reviewed a draft annual fire district meeting warrant that includes an operational expenses budget up 9.4 percent from the figures approved at the May 2025 annual meeting.

 

And, with a new line item added to the district's operational budget the total increase is closer to 24 percent.

 

Last May, meeting members — the meeting is open to all registered voters in town — approved an FY26 spending plan that totaled $686,991.

 

On July 1, the first day of the fiscal year, a special district meeting voted to allocate $40,000 from the district's stabilization fund to the operating budget, effectively raising the baseline to $726,991, a 34 percent increase, year over year, from FY25 to FY26.

 

The July 1 meeting moved $20,000 of stabilization funds to the firefighter pay line and $20,000 to the maintenance and operation line — nearly doubling the former and raising the latter by 75 percent from FY25 to FY26.

 

Both those lines are up again in the planned FY27 budget, but more modestly: 2 percent for M&O (up from $123,000 to $125,500) and 27 percent for firefighter payroll ($110,000 to $139,900).

 

Most of the other line items net out to no significant change; some are up a little, some are down a little.