Letter: Dalton Taxes and Fees
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To the Editor:
Dalton where every retired person has a money tree growing in their back yard. Well my wife's and mine is plucked clean.
The latest assault was the incredible increase in the sewer fee. The town Select Board pleaded "It's not our fault." Well it is your fault. It goes back to 1974 when the town signed a contract with the City of Pittsfield, where the Town of Dalton was on the hook for 17 percent of whatever improvements at the Pittsfield Waste Water Treatment Facility are made. So, the Town has had 52 years to prepare for this current crisis. But, they do what they have always done. Ignore it until becomes a crisis. How are we going to pay for the $10 million for water system upgrades and $11 million for sewer system upgrades? Those numbers came directly from the town manager.
What is the true cost of water to the taxpayer? Let's start with the Fire District Tax. That amount depends on the assessed value of your property, then add the yearly water bill of $300 and then the yearly sewer bill of $1,200. In my wife's and my case add a minimum $240 for bottled water, because we can't drink the town water. So, water ain't cheap folks.
The town wants to build a new police and fire station. Where is that money going to come from? The old Nessacus Junior High School would have a perfect building for the town offices. That would have left the whole Town Hall to be converted to a new police station. But, the town elected to allow the building to fall into complete disrepair.
We lived across the street across the school for 35 years and watched that building fall apart. Why, because the town ignored it. It then cost the town a million dollars to knock it down. What a waste. The second opportunity for a police station would have been to use a portion of the old Wahconah High School. It would have been perfect.
Remember the cost of the new high school has buried the town in insurmountable debt: 82 votes put us in this situation.
What happened to the town pursuing the sale of 13 building lots on the old Nessucus Junior High lot.? They were suppose to do that last year.
On Monday, Oct. 19, the Town of Dalton will hold a special town meeting. The fate of 5,100 registered voters will be in the hands of the poorly attended meeting. Usually less than 50 registered voters attend.
Being that the land acquisition for the proposed police station is one of the of the articles to voted on, you can bet that every policeman and town employee will be present to tilt the vote. So, it will pass. Why do we need to buy a lot now?
Won't it be available next year or even the year after? Where is the money coming from to pay Foresight Surveying Services and Humes Architects?
When you add up all the articles to be voted on a total of $2,286,840.70 will be spent. That's a lot of money.
When will the ridiculous town meeting form of government end? When will the Town of Dalton stop disenfranchising the majority of the registered voters? What gives the town the right of picking the pockets of 4,900 registered voters at the hands of so few?
It's time that the voters of Dalton stand up and stop being disenfranchised. Another big dollar project we have forgot about is the rebuilding of Dalton Division Road. We own $800,000 of that project plus another Million for a round-about at the end of the road.
Unfortunately, we are not like the Towns of Lenox or Lee, where they benefit from hundreds of businesses that add to the town's revenue. Here in Dalton we lean heavily on the taxpayers for the majority of the town's revenue. 65 percent of the taxpayers are retired citizens on a fixed income.
If no one has noticed but people are leaving in droves. Ninety percent are leaving because they are not willing to pay the town's taxes and fees. So, in summation the Town in the name of moving their ridiculously expensive agenda ahead. They are willing to bury every tax payer. It's time to fight back.
If the Select Board is not at fault then who is?
Bruce Lester
Dalton, Mass.
