image description
William Scanlan left the Milne Library and Friends of the Milne a total of $160,000.

Williamstown Library Receives $160,000 From Deceased Patron

Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The David and Joyce Milne Public Library recently was the beneficiary of the estate of longtime resident William Scanlan.

Scanlan left the library $80,000 and left an additional $80,000 to the Friends of the Milne after his death in December 2014.
 
“We lost a dear friend and library patron that will be missed by all the staff,” Milne Director Pat McLeod said. “Bill was a lifelong voracious reader and enjoyed visiting the library at least once a week for a short stack of books he would read very quickly. Bill was a quiet man, but enjoyed talking about the Saratoga Race Course and the Boston Red Sox.
 
“This gift is a real tribute to a man that lived as a journalist, lived with books and loved his local library.”
 
Scanlan, 73, was a journalist who worked on newspapers in Alaska, Louisiana, New England and Germany. The last stop of his professional career was at the Berkshire Eagle, where he worked for 17 years before retiring in 1997.
 
His former Eagle colleague and current Milne Library Trustee Charles Bonenti called Scanlan, “a true gentleman” who brought knowledge and professionalism to his job.
 
Scanlan was a native of Texas but grew up in Lynn, Mass. He attended the University of Massachusetts and served in the U.S. Army before embarking on his career in journalism.
 
The University of Massachusetts’ scholarship fund also was remembered in his will.
 
He was survived by his former wife, Kay Scanlan, who informed the library and Friends group of his bequest.
 
More information about the library can be found at milnelibrary.org. More information about the Friends of the Milne can be found at milnelibraryfriends.org.

Tags: Milne Library,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories