Adams Town Meeting Members Approve All Special Town Meeting Warrant Articles
Kyle Danforth and Patrick Kennedy state the case for the tax exemption they were seeking for their recycling business.
ADAMS, Mass. — Town meeting members on Wednesday night approved a tax exemption for a local business, the partial funding recension of a previously approved project and a $173,000 boost in the fiscal 2027 budget to account for additional personnel costs.
Some 98 of the town's 150 town meeting members attend the hourlong special town meeting in the Memorial Building gymnasium. All three articles on the warrant passed unanimously.
The item that faced the most discussion was Article 3, granting Dream Green Recycling a seven-year special tax assessment agreement.
The business, owned by Kyle Danforth, Dan Haskins, and Patrick Kennedy, has operated from leased facilities at 15 Printworks Drive in Adams and a 10,000-square-foot facility in Pittsfield. The partners recently purchased the Adams building.
The vote gives Dream Green Recycling with a temporary exemption from real estate taxes during its expansion under the following schedule:
- Fiscal years 2027 & 2028: 100 percent
- Fiscal year 2029 & 2030: 75 percent
- Fiscal year 2031: 50 percent
- Fiscal year 2032 & 2033: 25 percent
The hope is to expand its Adams facility and consolidate its Pittsfield operations by, eventually, moving all of it to Adams.
Part of the agreement requires the owners to execute its intention to renovate and upgrade its facility at 15 Printworks Drive, with an estimated capital investment of approximately $1.2 million to $1.8 million and add 12 jobs.
Over the last couple of years, the town's tax bill has left the owners operating "pretty much paycheck to paycheck," Danforth told the town meeting members.
The agreement will help ease some of that financial pressure as the company moves forward with its expansion, including the costs of purchasing new equipment, hiring additional employees and growing its operations, Danforth and Kennedy explained.
"I feel it is a great investment [and will] help us get started so that we can grow and really do what we want to do." Danforth said.
The tax relief given will go right back into the community and its business, he said.
Dream Green Recycling is a small company and since opening more than two years ago has made great gains, but this exemption will help them make greater strides, Kennedy said.
Unlike many competitors that require customers to transport materials, they offer curbside pickup at a lower cost, aiming to make recycling more convenient and affordable for the community, he said.
"Recycling is not going away," Danforth said, referencing the state Department of Environmental Protections goals to reduce disposal by 1.7 million tons by 2030.
The state is starting to cap its landfills, he said. "The closest other opportunity that the town of Adams really has is to go to Pittsfield, go to Lenoxdale."
The work that Dream Green Recycling is trying to do will give Adams residents the opportunity to recycle without having to travel, he said.
"When we take the mattress, we're about 90 percent effective by recycling that mattress and putting it back into the reuse stream rather than the waste stream," Danforth said, adding the other 10 percent the state Department of Environmental has not found a way to recycle.
"So we've really diversified ourselves because in Berkshire County there's a lot less people and a lot more space. So the product really isn't out there," he said. "So, we had to figure out ways to go out there and get it and change our product and learn and grow."
Danforth and Kennedy emphasized their commitment to the Adams community and how it has diversified its services based on the needs of the community.
This sentiment was echoed by Precinct Two meeting member Erica Girgenti, who has witnessed the company's impact on local students through her role as Hoosac Valley High School's community engagement partner.
The company has offered the district's high schoolers "really incredibly interesting internships," she said.
"We actually have an interview set up this week, tomorrow, with one of our students who has a chance to really start his career here and stay here," Girgenti said. "Our community produces many students that leave our community and find careers, and many who stay here and need to find work here. And they have a chance to start with Dream Green Recycling because they've already trained so many students."
Voters approved Article 1, authorizing the rescinding of $215,000 from a $565,000 loan originally approved at the 2010 annual town meeting for stormwater improvements.
The town has never paid any interest on the $215,000 and its recension makes the town's tax recap "look better," Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo previously said.
The article was characterized as a "housekeeping" item during a Select Board meeting. The $215,000 represents the unissued portion of the loan authorized for the Tophet Brook project in 2010.
"My understanding is the town did some work associated with that project in that time frame. Again, I can't give you hyper specifics, just having not been there, but my understanding is that around 2010, Hurricane Irene came through New England and the sheer volume of water actually cleared the chutes of all that debris," Caccamo said.
"I think it ended up being the cost savings on that project. Sixteen years later a lot of that debris in the same location is building up. We know it's a problem. We know it's going to cost more than $215,000 to remedy that."
Caccamo said the town is working internally with engineers to find ways to address that, primarily around the permitting and engineering requirements.
Voters approved an amended version of Article 2, which was adjusted at the beginning of the meeting because of a scrivener's error.
The article amends the omnibus budget from the June town meeting by adjusting the personnel salary and benefits lines for several positions that have since been filled. Additionally, it includes the projected figures most likely to come out of the union negotiations that are still ongoing for the Police Department and clerical.
Voters approved a new total amount of $173,009 for personnel services, which is $73,495 more than what was initially voted at the annual town meeting. The warrant originally had the total amount as $170,801.
The figures are as follows:
- Accountant: $174,205, a decrease from the initial budget of $185,464.
- Assessor: $173,489, an increase from $170,992.
- Treasurer/Collector: $173,009, an increase from $170,801
- Town Clerk: $187,418, an increase from $183,875.
- Community Development: $175,124, a decrease from $175,611.
- Inspection Services: $266,441, an increase from $266,099.
- Police Department: $2,708,839, an increase from $2,638,811
- Animal Control: $29,883, an increase from $29,813.
- Parking Management: $28,861, an increase from $28,983.
- Council on Aging: $281,523, an increase from $280,623.
- Library: $273,530, an increase from $270,025.
- Department of Public Works Administration: $57,737, an increase from $56,591.
- Building Maintenance: $96,145, an increase from $95,265.
Tags: fiscal 2027, special town meeting, tax exemption,
