Letter: Bilal for Williamstown Select Board

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To the Editor:

I am writing to urge Williamstown voters to elect Bilal Ansari to the Williamstown Select Board on Tuesday, May 10. Dr. Ansari has dedicated himself to a life of service, to helping people resolve difficult situations. He listens intently and responds carefully with compassion. He appeals to our best nature. These are essential skills needed at this moment in our town.

Dr. Ansari does not believe that he alone has the solutions to all of the challenges facing our town. Instead, he wants to hear from those comfortable speaking up and also those who, until now, have not felt comfortable nor heard at all. He believes it will take a village to share concerns and work together to make Williamstown a better place for everyone to live and work and grow. But making that happen takes a special type of skilled leadership.

Bilal Ansari is the candidate blessed with that skilled leadership and a stake in our town's quality of life. He has deep roots in this town: his ancestors lived and worked here. He is committed to an approach based in kindness and inclusion. He is the candidate who can and will help us reach a new, inclusive and more equitable chapter in our town's history.

I ask for your vote on May 10 for Bilal Ansari for the Williamstown Select Board. Thank you.

 

Hugh L Guilderson, Ph.D.
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 

 


Tags: town elections,   


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Williamstown Select Board Finalizes Property Tax Relief Measure for Town Meeting

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board last week finalized a request to town meeting to change the parameters of a property tax relief program for residents aged 60 and over.
 
At last year's annual town meeting, members approved a proposal to lower the age of eligibility from 65 to 60 for the 41C senior exemption, which gives eligible residents a break of $1,000 on their property tax bills.
 
In order to open the program to more residents, the Select Board this year wants voters to okay increases to the income limit and asset limit for eligibility.
 
Currently in town, the income limits are $21,846 for a single person and $32,769 for a married couple. The asset maximums are $43,692 for a single person and $60,076 for a couple.
 
At its March 9 meeting, the four members of the board agreed those numbers should be raised from the current thresholds but could not agree on where to set the new limit.
 
Peter Beck had volunteered to come back to the March 23 session with some proposals based on his research. He reported last Monday that after looking at other income- and asset-restricted programs at the state and federal level, he found a variety of limits.
 
"I think all the numbers we were looking at a couple of weeks ago are reasonable," Beck said. "They're all backed up by some kind of program. … I'd propose doubling [Williamstown's income limit] which gets us to about 50 percent of the area median income: $44,000 for a single person, $66,000 for married.
 
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