image description — Work is underway on the South Street hotel with a target opening of spring 2025. A tax exemption was first requested in 2021.

Pittsfield Holiday Inn Express Seeks Further TIF Extension

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:13AM / Tuesday, October 08, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The COVID-19 pandemic's effect on construction costs continues to delay an upcoming Holiday Inn Express.

On Tuesday's City Council agenda is a request to amend a tax increment financing agreement between the city and Somnath LLC, initially approved in 2021. The company is seeking a second two-year extension because of higher construction costs, supply chain disruptions, and the need to secure additional financing.

"Remember, all these businesses that get a TIF pay taxes and in the case of this hotel, once they're open there will be hotel, motel taxes that the city will be receiving as well," Mayor Peter Marchetti said on his biweekly television show One Pittsfield on Monday.

"So it's important to help businesses out as we go along to be able to help the city out too."

The new hotel is expected to create between 25-30 jobs, 15 of them full-time positions.

In 2022, the city approved a two-year extension for the TIF that would will forgive about $755,000 in real estate taxes while generating more than $1.27 million in tax revenue. The original build was estimated at $10 million and has been inflated to over $13 million.

Still, representatives Mauer and Dilip Desai expect for the hotel to open in the spring. Located behind the former Dakota Steakhouse, construction is well underway.

Marchetti said the family is well established in the community, having successfully owned and operated several hotels in Pittsfield and the surrounding area including the Best Western Plus on West Housatonic Street.

"We are requesting this extension as our original groundbreaking date and hotel opening date have been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic," Mauer Desai wrote to the city.

"Increased construction cost and issues with the supply chain for delivery of materials pushed the start of the construction back. We were forced to seek additional financing to begin construction which resulted in a delayed groundbreaking. The construction is now underway, and we are confident in a spring of 2025 opening."

Also on the agenda is a proposed amendment to the city code's chapter on tax title agreements and an order of permanent taking by eminent domain of two parcels on Wahconah Street in connection with the Bel Air Dam.

Marchetti explained that the ordinance change is due to recent changes to the foreclosure and tax title process made by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Maura Healey.

"The down payment requirement will now change from having to have a 25 percent down payment to a 10 percent down payment," he said.

"The maximum length of the agreement is increasing to 10 years from 5 and the percentage of interest allowed to be waived increases from 50 percent to 100 percent as determined by the municipality."

The requests for permanent taking on Wahconah Street is for the demolition of the Bel Air Dam.

Last year, $20 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars were allocated to remove the deteriorating, potentially deadly dam on Wahconah Street. It has been an area of concern for more than a decade, with the city and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation conducting inspections, maintenance, and repairs. In 2020, it was identified as a high-priority project.

"For nearly 20 years, city staff have been concerned about the deteriorating state of the Bel Air Pond dam after local owner withdrew from their responsibility for maintenance and upkeep. Working closely with the Mass Office of Dam Safety, the city has been monitoring the structure and providing local support as needed," Marchetti explained.

"In 2019 an assessment of options was performed and it was determined that the best course of action was to seek wholesale removal of the structure."

Design engineering has been occurring since last year and environmental permits are nearly secured for removal of the dam and about 35,000 cubic yards of contaminated materials.

"For this project to proceed into construction the two parcels that make up the project site must be in local control," the mayor said.

Tags: motels, hotels, tax exemption,

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Lanesborough Property Tax Rate Up 5%

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:25PM / Wednesday, November 11, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday approved a single tax rate that will increase the average homeowner's property bill by at least $670.

With a rate of $18.20 per $1,000 valuation, the average single-family home valued at $373,784 will see a $668 increase, and the average commercial property, estimated at a value of $577,990, will increase by $1,125 per year. This rate is 91 cents higher than last year's $17.29 per $1,000 valuation.

"Historically, as part of their annual budget policy, the Select Board and Finance Committee has endorsed a single tax rate option, providing no exemption or discount to a particular property class or group, voting a residential factor of one, which is what we'll do tonight, affirms a single tax rate and proportionate sharing of the tax levy burden between all classes of property," Principal Assessor Ross Vivori explained during the joint meeting with the Finance Committee and Board of Assessors.

This year's levy is $11,760,845, which is a 11.28 percent increase from last year, or $1,192,521.

The town's total taxable value is $648,200,324; about $541 million in residential, almost $9 million in industrial, about $52 million in commercial, and about $44 million in personal property. It is 5.7 percent higher than the previous year.

For fiscal 2027 the max allowable levy is $12,313,803, the town is levying $11,760,845, leaving an excess levy capacity of $552,957. There was more than $6.5 million in new growth, which was described as contributing about $112,855 in tax revenue at the prior year's rate.

Finance Committee member Al Terranova suggested that the rate may change if revenues, such as from the state, changed.

"I just don't want people to look at this and, 'Oh my goodness, I'm going to pay $600 more a year,'" he said. "They would just pick out that one number, because you don't know what the actual number is."

Select Board Chair Deborah Maynard said all the figures are based on the tax recapitulation sheet, which includes estimated revenues and state cherry sheet numbers.

"But there's no way around that, that's the number we're paying," added Select Board member Jason A. Breault. "That's the tax rate."

Ross said property values are rising because people are paying more for homes, but that's not driving the tax rate — town spending is.

"If the [property] value goes up and nothing else changes, the tax rate stays the same," he said. "What's driving the tax rate up is the budget ... everything's gone up and you've got raise the money to operate the town. It is what it is."

In better news, the board accepted what Accountant Angela Garrity agreed was a "healthy" amount of free cash at $949,833.

The board also heard from the public about putting a moratorium on data centers and battery storage facilities at its next meeting as well as Old State Road residents asking about the speed bump removed at the intersection of Target and Old State Road.

The residents said two years ago they had asked for the speed bump and were wondering why they were not warned it was being removed.

The three people said they were afraid to cross the street for their mailbox or walk their dogs. They also said it is very hard for them to leave their driveway at the intersection.

The Select Board could not respond during public comment, but at its last meeting, it decided to remove the speed bump based on information from police that it was "useless" as a deterrent and from Emergency Medical Services Director Jen Weber that it was dangerous when transporting patients.

An ad hoc committee with Weber and Police Chief Robert Derksen and board members Breault and Jeff Walters to discuss the best options on reduce speeding in some areas. Maynard reminded people that community members wanting to serve are being asked to submit citizens' interest form with the town.

Lastly, Alison Dixon from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission and Berkshire Environmental Action Team's Executive Director Brittany Ebeling presented two Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness action grant projects.

One project is the road stream crossing prioritization and assessment program for town-owned bridges and culverts to prioritize crossing replacements. Dixon explained that undersized culverts were identified as a vulnerability in the town's MVP and hazard and mitigation plan. The project is expected to span two years and will notify nearby landowners before field crews work around culverts and bridges. Community members were also invited to share knowledge about crossings they believe have been problematic.

The second project will cover ghost dams. BEAT and BRPC will be working with watershed organizations and a youth team from Greenagers over the next two years locating and documenting unmapped, human-made dams, also called ghost dams, which may pose flood risks. The goal is to create a Berkshires-wide map and connect towns and landowners with information and resources for flood-resilience planning.

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