MassDOT Announces Reprocurement for Service Plazas Contract

11:37AM / Saturday, October 18, 2025Print Story | Email Story

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced that they are preparing to reprocure the contract to rehabilitate, operate and maintain the 18 service plazas across the state.

"These service plazas play a critical role for our residents, visitors, workers and economy. MassDOT's focus has always been on delivering the highest-quality service plazas that offer the best value for taxpayers," said Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver, who will oversee the process. "After careful consideration, we have determined that the best path forward to ensure the success of this project is to reprocure the contract. This will allow us to make any necessary changes to the RFP to ensure we are attracting robust interest from highly qualified bidders and securing the best value possible."

MassDOT will also work with the current lease holders to ensure that travelers and workers do not experience disruptions to essential services.

Earlier this year – after a lengthy, multi-stage procurement process – the MassDOT Board authorized Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt to award the Transition and Lease Agreements for the service plazas to Applegreen. After signing a Transition Agreement, and during the lease negotiation process, Applegreen made the decision to withdraw.

After careful evaluation of all options, MassDOT is preparing to reprocure the service plaza contract in order to deliver the highest quality facilities and services for travelers while ensuring the best value for taxpayers and toll payers. MassDOT will begin negotiations with the current leaseholders for extensions immediately to ensure continuity of service and labor at the plazas.

MassDOT has been reviewing the original procurement and will seek feedback from the industry to develop recommendations for a revised Request for Proposals that will best ensure robust interest from high-quality bidders and set the project up for success.

Day-to-day management of the service plazas is being transferred to the MassDOT Highway Division to ensure structured performance oversight, regular inspections and centralized corrective action.

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Pittsfield Tax Rate Drops, But Bills May Rise

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:01PM / Wednesday, November 12, 2025

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The administration has presented a split rate that would increase the average single-family home's annual bill by about $220.

On the agenda for Thursday's City Council meeting is a hearing for the fiscal 2026 tax rate: $17.50 per $1,000 of valuation for residential property and $36.90 for commercial, industrial, and personal property. This rate uses a residential factor of 0.8299 at a shift of 1.75.

While the rate is 44 cents cheaper than the year before for residential properties and more than a dollar cheaper for commercial properties, bills will rise.

The FY26 levy limit of $119.5 million includes more than $2 million in new growth, and there is about $389,000 in excess level capacity. Pittsfield's real and personal property valuation is $5,650,879,534, more than $380 million higher than the previous year.

The average single-family home has increased by more than $20,000 from $295,291 last fiscal year to $315,335 in FY26, and with the proposed tax rate, would pay $5,518.36 in taxes per year. This represents a $220.84 increase.

The median home price increased at a similar rate, from $256,500 in FY25 to $275,150 in FY26. Commercial property increased by more than $15,000, the median property valued at $224,250 in FY25 and $239,500 in FY26. The median commercial property would see a $327.42 annual increase in its tax bill.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, there are 11,330 single-family homes in Pittsfield this fiscal year, four new parcels added from the previous year, and the assessed value of this property type rose by $226,274,900, totaling $3,572,750,000. There are 1,733 two-family homes, four fewer than the previous fiscal year, and that property type is assessed at $387,638,100.

There are 712 commercial properties with a total value of $428,856,000, 242 industrial properties with a total value of $139,218,000, and 15 industrial power plants.

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