Local Man Wins Auction for Williamstown Parcel

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town of Williamstown auctioned a quarter-acre parcel on Wednesday.

Four bidders came to the auction to bid on the 0.264-acre property on Harrison Avenue.

The bidding started at $14,450, and the winning bid was $40,000 by Williamstown resident Gerard Smith, who is not sure what he will do with the property yet, but plans to clear the wooded lot first.

"My intention would be to make improvements to the property. And I'm not sure what the scope of those improvements are just yet, but the market will tell me," Smith said.

Smith said he usually purchases properties and adds value to them.

The auction was held at Town Hall by Berkshire Auctions owner James Dalton. The auction winner was required to post a $5,000 down payment.

Williamstown Fire Committee Sees FY27 Budget with Sizable Operational Increase

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, March 31, 2026

The Prudential Committee held its first meeting in the new station in late March with Treasurer Billie Jo Sawyer, left and committee members Lindsay Neathawk, David Moresi and Craig Pedercini.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee last week reviewed a draft annual fire district meeting warrant that includes an operational expenses budget up 9.4 percent from the figures approved at the May 2025 annual meeting.

 

And, with a new line item added to the district's operational budget the total increase is closer to 24 percent.

 

Last May, meeting members — the meeting is open to all registered voters in town — approved an FY26 spending plan that totaled $686,991.

 

On July 1, the first day of the fiscal year, a special district meeting voted to allocate $40,000 from the district's stabilization fund to the operating budget, effectively raising the baseline to $726,991, a 34 percent increase, year over year, from FY25 to FY26.

 

The July 1 meeting moved $20,000 of stabilization funds to the firefighter pay line and $20,000 to the maintenance and operation line — nearly doubling the former and raising the latter by 75 percent from FY25 to FY26.

 

Both those lines are up again in the planned FY27 budget, but more modestly: 2 percent for M&O (up from $123,000 to $125,500) and 27 percent for firefighter payroll ($110,000 to $139,900).

 

Most of the other line items net out to no significant change; some are up a little, some are down a little.