North Adams Council, School Committee Support Fair Share Amendment
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| Mayor Jennifer Macksey, with Police Chief Jason Wood, introduces new Police Officer Michael Cogswell. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Both the City Council and School Committee have endorsed the Fair Share Amendment, a ballot initiative that would impose a 4 percent surtax on earned income past the first $1 million.
Proponents of the amendment say it will generate $2 billion a year for infrastructure and education.
The School Committee last week voted unanimously to support the amendment.
The approval on the City Council side was not unanimous — at 5-4 — with Councilors Peter Oleskiewicz, Brian Sapienza, Ashley Shade and Wayne Wilkinson voting in opposition.
Shade had aired her concerns after the presentation on the amendment last month, saying it could set a precedent for other groups to be singled out for taxation. She also pointed out that the amendment did not explicitly state that the money would be used for infrastructure and education.
"If we were to vote to support this, what we are saying is we support changing the state constitution so they can raise taxes. And I am fundamentally against that idea," she said. "I think by supporting an amendment like this, it opens up the door to potentially support other amendments that raise taxes like this. ...
"I'm strongly against this resolution. I'm strongly against communities adopting this resolution, because it's a signal that says we're okay with the constitution of our state being overridden to raise taxes."
Councilor Marie T. Harpin, who submitted the resolution, said the city's need for repairs to its crumbling bridges, walls and roads was obvious and that the city's children deserve the best education.
"If this is a tool that we could use in some way to help our community, I think, as an elected official, I feel obligated to be able to do that and to advocate for that," she said, adding that the School Committee is supporting it as well as Pittsfield City Council and School Committee, the Dalton Select Board and the entire Berkshire delegation. "Do I believe that North Adams could reach some benefits from this? Yes, I do. And I do believe that it could it could help our community and that's why I would support it."
Shade said she wasn't against any of things the amendment would fund -- but that funding mechanism wasn't part of the amendment.
"It doesn't legally bind any of that money to be used for those things," said Shade, adding it will be on the ballot and should be up to the taxpayers to decide, not the city. And it wasn't worth overriding the oldest constitution in the world to impose taxes.
Wilkinson agreed with Shade, saying, "you couldn't have said it better, I'm right on board."
Sapienza said a primary concern for him was what the city would get out of it.
"How much of this money will support North Adams or Northern Berkshire in general?" he said. "We need better transportation in this community. We need better schools. I am all for supporting education. I don't believe this is the way to do it. ... I feel that most of this money will stay in the eastern part of the state and will not make its way to Western Massachusetts or Berkshire County."
Councilor Michael Obasohan, however, agreed with Harpin.
"I think every time we have a conversation around education and supporting our education system, it always takes the back burner," he said. "I think that as an elected official, we should be supporting education. We should be supporting safe ways to transport our students, our children to get to these places. So I am in support of this Fair Share."
But Shade said it will be up to the voters in November.
"I don't think it's right for the city to make that decision," she said. "It's a question on the ballot box and I think it's more appropriate to leave it there for the voters to decide."
The presentations to the School Committee and council were made last month by Judith Fairweather and Mary Scanlon, respectively, both speaking on behalf of the North Adams Teachers Association.
School Committee member Josh Vallieres, a recent graduate of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, said he had run for School Committee to make a positive impact and that the money raised through this amendment will make a difference for students and schools.
"I believe it's important that people who are well off and can afford to pay more that they should pay more," he said asking why "we would let the rich get richer in the state of Massachusetts while we neglect on a systematic basis the teachers and staff in our schools who deserve adequate pay."
Committee member Tara Jacobs said she attended a gathering explaining the amendment and reiterated it would only be on the person income over $1 million — not on investments, savings or assets. The impact on public education will be "enormous," she said.
There is an estimated 254,201 multimillionaire households in Massachusetts and the last tally of million-dollar income earners was more than 18,000 in 2017. The bulk of these millionaires is in the Boston area but about a 100 (individuals and couples) were living in the Berkshires in 2016, according to data compiled by the Boston Globe.
In other business, the council approved the appointment of Diane Crosier to the Mobile Home Rent Control Board to fill the unexpired term of Suzanne Wick, ending Sept. 25, 2023; Andrew Fitch and Molly Graether to the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Commission, the first to fill the unexpired term of Joseph Santelli, ending Feb. 8, 2025, and the second to fill the unexpired term of Stephanie Mirante, ending Feb. 8, 2024; and Chad Jzyk to the Windsor Lake Commission for a term to expire April 1, 2025.
• The council approved an application by National Grid for installation of a utility pole on Pattison Road to service a new home.
• Michael Cogswell was sworn in as a full-time police officer on the North Adams Police Department. On April 7, he completed the Police Academy, where he was named squad leader of his group.
• Several traffic issues were continued until the Traffic Commission could address them.
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