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Williams College Redoing Varsity Tennis Courts

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The varsity tennis courts at Williams College are undergoing a large-scale renovation project.
 
The plan of the Torrence M. Hunt courts is to remove all of the components of the six original competition courts to make them more sufficient to play on and maintain. 
 
"I'm most excited about breaking in the new courts for our first home-match of the season this spring," head women's coach Anik Cepeda said.
 
The unsuitable material beneath the old courts created annual maintenance strategies that attempted to fix the cracking and poor drainage of the six courts. The new courts will be post tension concrete, which will allow for the courts to be better able to withstand weather conditions and maintain a better surface.
 
"Less work for our amazing facilities crew will be a huge bonus, as will getting an edge in recruiting," head men's coach Dan Greenberg said. "I think we have one of the nicest backdrops in the country, so these renovations will make it one of the best facilities out there."   
 
Also included in the project will be new fencing around the courts, new tennis nets, the addition of a scoreboard, new seating, electrical and drainage upgrades, and a PA system. 
 
"It will be a much better venue for spectators," Athletic Director Lisa Melendy said. "In particular, the addition of a scoreboard will allow spectators to follow the match progress rather than just drop by and not know what is going on." 
 
The project is expected to be completed by early October.
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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.
 
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