Ashburnham Ma (they have municipal light dept.) annual town meeting of May 2023, article 2 -"to see if the Town will vote to authorize a PILOT payment based on the annual kilowatt sales of the Light dept. multiplied by a per kilowatt value from the municipal light plan funds, to the town treasury, as authorized by its light board in accordance with chapter 164 of the general laws of the commonwealth, or act in relation thereto. (requested by light dept.) Brief explanation, The PILOT agreement is tied to the pilot payment in the annual kilowatt sales of the light dept. multiplied by a per kilowatt value. This was put in place for FY13 to ease the calculation and establish a standard process for future years. In FY24, it is estimated we will receive $65,000.00. So, in Ashburnham for example, the light commissioners work for the benefit of the town, rather than going around and claiming they are all independent from the town. Templeton light commissioners spent money on legal fees to look at structure of town government, but they refused to share it with residents. Big difference in other town/municipal light commissioners and the ones in Templeton.
We , as a community have been told a number of times to get a PILOT from our light company, by the Department of Revenue. PILOT stands for Payment in Liu of taxes. By getting an agreement with out light company it would make it easier for anyone doing the town budget to know a set number that was coming in to town coffers. Yes, we all appreciate the work our light committee does, but the reality is the town provides services to the Light and Water Departments also. Getting an agreement done is the Town Administrator's job. Selectman should see that he does his job.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, it would make it easier for department heads to calculate "their share" and adjust budget request accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIf we get a PILOT, your light bill will go up and your taxes won't ever go down.
Funny, Ashburnham has a PILOT and their electric rates do not jump up as a result. That is another myth from Templeton (scare tactic). One should ask to see the financials of Templeton light, as in retained earnings or excess revenue. American public power association has a formula for PILOTS. If you look at past town meetings, you can see money transferred from light to the town general fund. A PILOT formalizes the process by using a formula.
ReplyDeleteI'm against giving the town more money. It will be spent, it won't provide any tax relief. Why would anyone want that? You want to give Adam and friends bigger raises? Have them hire more office help? Pay more for accounting services? We won't benefit in the least, so why do it?
ReplyDeleteLook at town finance, the town is dependent on state aid and free cash, in part, because we budget off 100% real estate collections when we only collect at best 98%. I would suggest taking the PILOT money and put it in a fund to either pay towards OPEB or funding new police cruiser, highway 1 tons or as a funding source to help cover costs of broadcasting town board and committee meetings. Town residents must realize, understand and participate in process. There are ways to control the spending. One should inquire with town of Ashburnham and ask if their PILOT with light has benefited them in any way.
ReplyDeleteA PILOT could also be done without any transfer of money from town light dept. to town general fund of anywhere else, light dept. could simply stop billing town general fund for street lighting and lighting of all town owned properties / buildings.
ReplyDeleteI know how this goes. Swamp creatures would not reduce the town budget to account for such reduced expenses. There is never enough other people's money to spend. Likewise, I am not interested in buying any more police cars, trucks or SUVs until they stop acting like the Feds with their vehicles painted all black. There is a deterent factor to having marked cars patrolling, and ours are unmarked, except for the blue license plates.
ReplyDeleteI agree that town patrol cars should be painted in the usual black/white broken pattern we are all used to identifying as police.
DeleteNo tinted out, black out cars/windows like the cocaine dealers from the 80's............
I want our cars to be "Officer Friendly" or damn close to it with their interaction with citizens.
I also want police out of our schools, but thats another matter.
Checked assessors page and could not find any records of anyone named anonymous. Checked voting records of town meeting and elections, again, no one named Anonymous found, of course, it is Templeton. Highway vehicles have nothing to do with police vehicles other than they are owned by the town.
ReplyDelete