WESTHAMPTON — A coalition of rural towns are throwing out a lifeline to their state legislators, asking for financial help from Beacon Hill after getting hit by a harsh financial season with no clear solutions in sight.
Select Board members and representatives from Westhampton, Southampton, Chesterfield, Williamsburg and Goshen agreed at a joint meeting on Tuesday to send a letter to their state delegation asking for help.
The meeting was called to give officials from the towns a chance to collaborate and share solutions to the issues straining each budget, and discussion Tuesday mainly focused on the unexpected midyear 20% insurance increase from the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust. The trust provides health insurance for over 12,000 active and retired municipal employees, including town and school employees for all five towns.
“I think part of the reason to get us all in the same room is … any one of us is a tiny little voice, but as a collaborative effort because we’re all saying a lot of the same things, maybe there’s somewhere in there that we could build up some force to get some attention for what’s happening to our small, rural, regional towns,” Westhampton Select Board Chair Susan Bronstein said at the meeting. “It’s time for us to be loud.”
This meeting is the first of its kind in many years for the five communities. The groups previously met monthly under the name Hampshire Municipal Advisory Committee (HMAC) and hope to revive this habit to support each other.
Last week, the towns received a letter from state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, announcing that discussions are taking place between the trust and the state delegation, but that there is not a solution. The trust currently holds less than 2% of its annual operating budget in reserves and has missed its revised financial forecast by nearly $2 million just two months after implementing the midyear increase, meaning another increase is likely to come in the future.
Sabadosa reinforced she wants to be a resource for the communities that are trying to create a plan, knowing there may be another increase on the horizon.
“They’re trying to decide what’s right for them and my goal is to provide the best information I can to help each individual town because not every town will have the same solution,” Sabadosa said in an interview with the Gazette.
The draft letter was written by Southampton Select Board Member Jon Lumbra. The towns agree action needs to be taken now and will meet soon to finalize the letter, even though many members feel this is a long shot to prompt action from the state.
“I think that’s great, but this is more of a long shot,” Chesterfield Select Board member Trish Colson-Montgomery said. “What we haven’t really addressed is how do we solve issues in the short term. What do we do so we have sustainable budgets that don’t cripple the towns and put burden on taxpayers?”
The draft of the letter calls for action from state legislators including Sabadosa and Reps. Kelly Pease and John Barrett, along with Sens. John Velis and Sen. Paul Mark.
In the first paragraph, it says that the five collective communities at the meeting contribute more than $25 million annually in income taxes to the state, but receive just $10.8 million in state aid.
It says their only option for the future is to ask voters to pass a Proposition 2½ tax-cap override, but this places an unfair burden on property taxpayers who already face some of the highest average tax bills in western Massachusetts. This is not a sustainable solution to plan around for future budget planning.
The letter specifically requests four legislative actions from the representatives: expand and stabilize school aid to rural communities; modernize Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA); limit the cutting of state aid for rural towns; and create an analysis that determines the amount communities pay in taxes versus what they receive.
While considering overrides, the five communities have been able to use free cash, stabilization funds and the operating budget to close the budget gaps for the time being. But many of the select board members are not optimistic about seeking an override vote for future stabilization.
“Overrides don’t solve your problems because taxpayers can vote them down so they aren’t a solution,” said Colson-Montgomery. “If you can guarantee them working then great, but they’re not gonna go in any of our small towns.”
Lumbra added that Southampton voters in May rejected the town’s previous override request of $897,000 for operating expenses at William E. Norris Elementary School. Hadley’s failed override attempt at their recent special Town Meeting was also mentioned, though voters in that town are heading to the polls on Monday to make final decision.
When asked what Southampton learned from their override attempt, Lumbra said it is essential to educate community members about the purpose and necessity of overrides. Still, it is up to the voters to decide and the likely outcome when overrides fail are cuts to essential services.
“Yes, I think there’s going to be an override in Southampton, I do not have high hopes that it will pass,” Lumbra said.
The boards see a general reluctance from voters in small towns to approve overrides. Many of these communities have little industries in town to pay property taxes, relying on citizens to take the brunt of these costs.
“We have lost the (Beaver Brook) golf course this year and there’s a lot of things coming off the tax rolls and it’s not being replaced,” Williamsburg Select Board Member Denise Banister said about the town’s budget.
Some organizations in the trust have been considering a switch to a different insurance provider, one of those being the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC). There’s a tight timeline to join, having to provide notice to the GIC before Dec. 1 and coverage would not start until July next year.
Vito Perrone, superintendent of the Hampshire Regional School District (HRSD) — part of the health insurance trust — was also in attendance virtually. The town budgets are strained by the portion they dedicate to schools, with these five communities all contributing more than 50% of their budgets to schools.
Each town contributes part of their budget to HRSD and their own elementary schools: Williamsburg, the Anne T. Dunphy; Chesterfield and Goshen, New Hingham; Westhampton Elementary; and Southampton, William E. Norris.
Perrone said that he has been meeting with other superintendents to provide options for the towns when it comes to health insurance costs.
“The work being done right now is about gathering information, options and assessing the risk of those options …” Perrone said in an interview with the Gazette. “Our responsibility is collaborating with the municipalities in any way we can.”
For the school districts, teacher unions ensure educators are provided insurance which will require negotiation. Though, Perrone said the teachers understand the impact of the increase and are willing to discuss different options.
On top of overrides, each community will have to face runoff costs from leaving the insurance trust, if they do so.
The conclusion of the letter states, “Proposition 2½ overrides may offer a legal mechanism to raise additional funds, but they are not a sustainable solution. They risk overburdening property taxpayers while the Commonwealth continues to underfund rural communities. Without structural reform at the state level — through adjustments to Chapter 70, UGGA, and rural school aid — our schools and communities will remain in jeopardy.”