Berkshire Green Drinks to Feature Hoffmann Bird Club

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Berkshire Green Drinks will host a presentation by Audrey Werner and Steven Miller of the Hoffmann Bird Club on Wednesday, May 21, at 6:00 p.m.

The event, titled "Flock Together with Hoffmann Bird Club," will be hybrid, taking place online via Zoom and in person at The Barn Kitchen & Bar of the Williams Inn, located at 103 Spring St, Williamstown, MA. An in-person social gathering will begin around 5:15 p.m.

The presentation will introduce attendees to the Hoffmann Bird Club, a Berkshire County nature organization. Werner and Miller, members of the club's executive committee, will discuss the club's history, upcoming bird walks and events, and its community science initiatives focused on bird conservation. The event is open to all, regardless of birding experience or equipment.

Participants can learn about birding in the Berkshires and how to get involved with the Hoffmann Bird Club.

Registration and further information are available at tinyurl.com/May2025-Berks-Green-Drinks.

The Hoffmann Bird Club, founded in 1940, aims to promote the study of birds in Berkshire County. Meetings are held from September to May and are open to the public. The club organizes field trips for birders of all levels.

Berkshire Green Drinks is an informal monthly gathering featuring speakers on environmental topics, followed by discussion. The event is sponsored and organized by the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT). For more information, contact BEAT at [email address removed] or by phone at (413) 464-9402.

 


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Williamstown Community Preservation Panel Weighs Hike in Tax Surcharge

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Community Preservation Committee is considering whether to ask town meeting to increase the property tax surcharge that property owners currently pay under the provisions of the Community Preservation Act.
 
Members of the committee have argued that by raising the surcharge to the maximum allowed under the CPA, the town would be eligible for significantly more "matching" funds from the commonwealth to support CPA-eligible projects in community housing, historic preservation and open space and recreation.
 
When the town adopted the provisions of the CPA in 2002 and ever since, it set the surcharge at 2 percent of a property's tax with $100,000 of the property's valuation exempted.
 
For example, the median-priced single-family home in the current fiscal year has a value of $453,500 and a tax bill of $6,440, before factoring the assessment from the fire district, a separate taxing authority.
 
For the purposes of the CPA, that same median-priced home would be valued at $353,500, and its theoretical tax bill would be $5,020.
 
That home's CPA surcharge would be about $100 (2 percent of $5,020).
 
If the CPA surcharge was 3 percent in FY26, that median-priced home's surcharge would be about $151 (3 percent of $5,020).
 
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