CHARLEMONT — Small towns can face big challenges, so Charlemont’s leaders hope western Massachusetts rural towns can band together to solve those problems.
After facing a series of financial woes, Charlemont is calling for a Small Town Summit on May 5, to discuss some of the most serious challenges western Massachusetts Hilltowns are facing.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Hawlemont Regional School. Town officials from western Massachusetts have been invited to discuss common issues, share solutions and consider a “small town response” to the Legislature concerning their collective needs.
This year, for instance, Charlemont is dealing with costs rising, in part, from its rural circumstances. Since fall, the state closed three of Charlemont’s 27 town-owned bridges, reduced weight limits on three others and found structural defects in still more town bridges, leaving the town to figure out how to pay for these costs, which are estimated at around $5 million for the highest-priority bridges.
And state ambulance regulations — that two certified emergency medical technicians must respond with each ambulance — have increased the Charlemont Volunteer Ambulance Service’s needs for emergency medical technicians. Before the regulation change, only one EMT was needed to respond with an emergency responder/ambulance driver. The new rule adds costs and strains volunteers for 24-hour, seven-day-per-week coverage.
Two out of four towns that formerly shared this ambulance service — Rowe and Heath — are now using other ambulance services. And since Charlemont’s ambulances must respond to emergencies involving people using the river for recreation, the town is now considering a “recreation tax” to help cover the expenses
Despite annual Town Meeting support for broadband funding last year, the town is still waiting for the service. And the Select Board is concerned that education costs are escalating out of proportion to the rest of the town budget.
The goal of the Small Town Summit is to give town officials a chance to “compare notes” and to find ways they may be able to work together on common issues. Another goal is to “consider a small-town response” to the Legislature concerning collective needs.
This parallels a new effort by rural regional school districts to find solutions to common problems created in sparsely populated rural districts, so that they could work together to lobby for “sparsity aid” for rural schools.
A group of 16 regional school district superintendents met last week at Frontier Regional School to iron out goals and strategies for a “Massachusetts Rural Schools Lobbying Initiative,” to be headed by Mohawk Trail Regional School Superintendent Michael Buoniconti.
One goal is to research what percentage of rural towns has the ability to raise taxes and what land is not taxed. For instance, the Quabbin area is not compensated for the water source and watershed property going through communities that supply water to Boston.
The group will also look into whether the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will “forgive” mortgages for school building improvements, if the now under-used school buildings are converted to other uses, such as senior centers or libraries. It is anticipated that the MSBA will grant relief on loans made over 20 years ago, but perhaps not allow more recently renovated buildings to be converted to other uses without repaying the state reimbursement aid.
The school group wants to work more closely with local Select Boards and finance committees, as well as with municipal associations with political clout. The group believes it is unlikely they will be able to get additional funding for rural schools in the state budget that begins July 1. However, they are looking to doing that for the fiscal year 2018 budget.
“It would be important for the Rural Schools Superintendents to travel to Boston in January 2017,” state the minutes of the latest meeting. They go on to say that the state sees that rural school districts are all mostly Level 1 and Level 2 MCAS districts “and still keep doing what we need to do. (The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) doesn’t recognize there is a need for additional funding for rural schools. Most of the rural school districts back into what our towns can afford, rather than what we need and make the cuts to get to that budget level.”
Most rural towns within the large but sparsely populated regional school districts already spend more than 50 percent of their annual budget on education costs.