June 24, 2007

Town to ask College for relief?

I do not recall any significant “Town versus Gown” issues while I was a student at Amherst (ignoring, of course, the noise complaints that frequently broke-up parties at Mayo-Smith, Seelye and Hitchcock!).

With that in mind, this article that appeared yesterday in the Springfield Republican caught my eye. The article reports that Amherst town officials recently had to dip into the town’s reserves to cover a budget defecit of over $237,000. After noting that the three colleges within the town do not pay any property tax, the article concludes with this paragraph:

Town Manager Laurence R. Shaffer is continuing conversations with Amherst and Hampshire College, seeking assistance for services used by those schools, as well having ongoing conversations with the University of Massachusetts. Shaffer could not be reached for comment.

Maybe these “continuing conversations” are preliminary and pleasant. However, given the “systemic issues” with the town’s financial picture mentioned in the article and with an ameliorative bill apparently tied up in the Massachusetts state legislature, this may be a story to keep an eye on. I am a poor source of history when it comes to the relationship between Amherst College and the town, so if anyone can add any context to this story, or any additional facts, please leave a comment below or contact us at amerst@gmail.com.

Dave Nardolillo '98 | June 24, 2007 07:11 PM | History | Town

Comments

pjm | July 4, 2007 10:55 PM:

There's a history in the valley of colleges making "Payment(s) In Lieu Of Taxes" to towns. My memory of which colleges pay which towns is hazy; I'm trying to recall Gazette stories from five years ago, here. But the PILOT checks have been an issue in NoHo as well, where there is a similar issue with Smith. If I recall correctly, the idea of PILOT is that the colleges make some contribution to the services they use without making any concession about being liable for future taxes. The amounts, apparently, are consequently pretty much at the discretion of the relevant institution, and I expect that the size of the payment is the topic of the continuing conversations. (That was certainly the theme of the stories I read about Mayor Claire and Smith when I was living in NoHo.)

By the way, in at least one of my Amherst apartments in recent years, I was about a block from Hitchcock, and yes, we could tell which nights TAP was in Hitchcock.

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