With major uncertainties hanging over their heads, Greenfield voters passed their town budget and nearly every warrant article at Saturday’s Town Meeting at Greenfield Elementary School.
The town’s approximately $1.1 million operating budget and warrant articles totaling just over $2 million were approved by the legislative body, as town officials warned of several unknown factors that could affect tax rates and finances going forward.
The budget was designed well in advance of the spike in petroleum and energy prices created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; those unpredictable extra costs are expected to be addressed at the next Select Board meeting.
Another major unpredictable factor going forward for Greenfield is how much tax money it can expect to receive from the former Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center property now owned by Gersh Autism, a change that Selectman Mason Parker and Town Administrator Aaron Patt said will change how the town’s tax structure works. As a nonprofit, Crotched Mountain made an annual payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) of about $180,000, well short of what might have been expected in taxes on the property, once valued at $54 million. Nonetheless, the lump-sum payment helped the town with cash flow and chipped away at the amount needed from taxpayers.
“We’ve been a revenue-driven town versus a valuation-driven town, and that’s going to change,” Patt said.
For-profit Gersh purchased the property for about $5 million in 2021 and honored the PILOT agreement that year; as of April 1, they’ll be taxable.
“Going forward, it’s totally different, because that entity up there is now a for-profit entity,” Parker said. “So they will be taxed accordingly as opposed to when they were a nonprofit entity and they paid a PILOT.”
The big unknown is just how much they’ll be taxed. An adequate appraisal of the grounds and facilities is required before determining Gersh’s tax hit in Greenfield, and the town does not currently have anyone qualified to do such an appraisal. Gersh will receive two tax bills like anyone else in town, and rather than making a lump-sum payment, which will strain the town’s cashflow, the first bill, due in July, will be based on a provisionary, estimated figure yet to be determined, as a fast-tracked appraisal is unlikely.
Of course, with or without those ramifications, the town must keep moving forward, and voters had little issue with most of the warrant articles, which raised funds for the town’s police, fire, public works, library, roads and capital reserves with a strategy that the selectmen and Treasurer Katherine Heck described as steps toward building their funds for future purchases, rather than making large outright equipment appropriations for this year.
The most-spirited debate took place around Articles 9 and 10, which found voters choosing between a renewed ambulance service agreement with Wilton Ambulance (a three-year contract starting at $99,477 a year, Article 9) or a new agreement with former provider Peterborough Fire and Rescue (a five-year contract at $65.832, Article 10).
The room was divided. Members of the Greenfield Fire Department spoke in favor of continuing their deal with Wilton, as the departments have been working closely together and have developed a good rapport. Plus, some pointed out, Peterborough’s plan for a $23 million municipal facility could raise ambulance prices down the road.
On the other side, Parker voiced his concern about working jointly with the Town of Wilton, as he said the board has had difficulty obtaining timely or accurate budgets from Wilton.
“We finally got budgets from them and I was embarrassed for them,” Parker said. “They couldn’t even get the date right.”
On top of that, Parker said, the Wilton ambulance service is mulling a move into the Wilton Fire Department building; with the open-ended language of their contract, the service would have the power to raise Greenfield’s payment, which Parker said could essentially have Greenfield taxpayers paying for capital improvements on a building they don’t own.
“I cannot support this because I think it’s going to unravel,” Parker said. “Mark my words.”
Voters approved Article 9 by hand vote and voted down Article 10 by secret ballot, so Greenfield will retain its agreement with Wilton Ambulance Service for the next three years.
To conclude the meeting, Selectman Mike Borden offered his thanks to outgoing Select Board Chair Robert Marshall, and outgoing Town Moderator Bill Nichols performed his final official acts by swearing in the newly elected officials and adjourning the meeting.