BY DAN VALENTI

Congratulations to Councilor Rhonda! The school district is a nice place for her to ease into retirement. Not a scary classroom position of course but some type of coffee gaggle on First Street would suit her perfectly.

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‘The Power of No’

There is one more important consideration to add to the current debate over Monument Mountain Regional High School and the expenditures that taxpayers are being asked to decide.

That additional consideration is the one already specifically facing Great Barrington’s taxpayers, namely Housatonic Water Company and its problematic water system.

What will be the total effect on Great Barrington’s real estate tax bills should voters decide to underwrite both of these ‘big ticket’ projects?

Can GB’s taxpayers reasonably afford both projects?

With two ‘big-ticket’ projects, how much would GB’s total tax burden magnify the financial strain that already exists for many in Town?

(The cost of living and working in GB, as well as the availability — or lack — of affordable housing have been the subjects of much reportage this year in The Berkshire Eagle and Berkshire Edge.)

The Building Committee of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District proposes spending between $89 million and $152 million (the latter is the Mass. School Building Authority’s estimate) depending upon whether the project is rehabilitation or new construction.
(Part of the $152m for new construction would be offset by an MSBA grant.)

(Observation: Is it possible that the bureaucrats at Mass. School Building Authority are using the same estimating formulas as Mass. Department of Transportation? MDOT initially estimated the cost of replacing Brookside Road Bridge in Great Barrington at less than $4 million before hiking-up that number months later to $55 million. It begs the question whether similar ‘cost inflation’ is at work at MSBA.)

Housatonic’s water system needs repair and upgrade to bring it into compliance with federal standards. Current estimates are that this work will cost tens of millions of dollars (but, like Boston’s ‘Big Dig’, the actual cost figures once ground is broken could go up).

Add to both proposed projects the expense of borrowing the money to make each happen.
(The fine print on the Monument Mountain Building Project website says the loan is to be repaid over 30 years, and that the “current model assumes” an interest rate of 5%. Yet, that assumption is followed by a qualifier: “Actual borrowing costs may change if interest rates, grant awards, or property values change in the future.”
The fine print continues:
“Annual tax impact may fluctuate slightly from year to year, typically starting lower in the early years. Projections assume no increase in assessed property values over time.”
Then there’s this: “Actual borrowing costs may change if interest rates, grant awards, or property values change in the future.”
In Southern Berkshire County, do property values go down?

Is it possible that these two big-ticket projects are simply not affordable, and should be considered unreasonably expensive without federal or state subsidies covering at least 90% of all costs?

Is it also possible that local voters cannot afford to drive up any further local real estate taxes and the costs of living and working in Great Barrington?

Undertaking new projects that are guaranteed to raise property taxes is serious business, and voters proceed at their own peril if they engulf their municipality in so much debt that not only taxes and the cost of living go up, but the character of life and work in that municipality undergoes change.

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WTF is Goggles Serre qualified to do at the scohol department?

Argentina is in line for a $20 billion bailout from the Trump administration.

The over 3-weeks-long and counting U.S. Government shutdown is costing taxpayers tens of billions of dollars in additional federal deficit spending, while thousands of federal workers are NOT being paid during the 2025 shutdown.

Are the above factual events “America First”?

At least the Stock Market is near record highs, the billionaires received their huge tax cuts, the elected officials in the Swamp are still being paid, despite 98 percent of them being multimillionaires who don’t really need the government income, federal government deficit spending is at an all time high, not including the Covid Pandemic Era’s red ink, the U.S. National Debt took a little over 2 months to go from $37 trillion to $38 trillion, and The White House is getting a brand new ballroom.

It is worse than Jimmy’s Rolodex, Sara’s Aberration, Linda’s Spending, and the 2-Pete’s “One Pittsfield” tagline COMBINED!