National Grid Taxes TMLWP Pilot
Athol-
FY 14 FY ’14 $150,000
$227,678.59
Assessors
978-249-3880
Gardner
-FY2014 FY’15 $0.00
Mass Electric - Real Estate
assessment = $261,500
Personal Property assessment =
$9,187,768
Total assessment $9,449,268.
Total Taxes (rate 18.87) $178,307.72
New England Power - Real Estate
Assessment = $265,500
Personal Property Assessment =
$2,133,410
Total assessment $2,398,910.
Total Taxes (rate 18.87) $45,267.43
Assessors
978-632-4004
Hubbardston-
FY 14
$40,892
978-928-1400
X 203
Westminster
– FY ‘14
$35,072.29
978-874-7401
Winchendon
–FY ‘14
As requested, the real estate taxes paid for the parcel’s
owned by
National Grid is $18,701.55.This is $1,054.95
under Mass Electric and $17,646.60
under New England Power
And...
The personal property tax for National Grid (New England Power) is $44,290.24.
And...
The personal property tax for National Grid (New England Power) is $44,290.24.
$36,348.15 + $44,290.24 = $80,638.39
978-297-0155
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Please Vote
on
May 5, 2014
Please support your Town
Perhaps it is time for Templeton to at least look at what the assessed valuation of all Templeton Municipal Light dept. property is and what the potential tax revenue to the town could be. Remember that tax revenue means no forever bills such as retirement and health insurance and other costs and no indebtedness to the town. If one looks at MGL c 164 (the one that the light dept. say covers them) section 56, it states in that section that the general manager of a municipal light dept. will report to the selectmen on the indebtedness of the town with regards to the light dept.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of taxes, taxpayers must decide what services they want and how do they wish to pay for them. interesting fact is a neighbor to the north, Keene, NH, a city that dispatches for 14 communities, one of which is Rindge, NH which is at the MA state line. Winchendon then Rindge and last week or so, a Moose was struck by a car late at night, afterwards, a 911 call and Rindge police show up along with the fire dept. Car is towed, people are checked out, road is hosed down and Moose is looked for. All of this happened with a call to Keene, an hour away, but the call and the response of Rindge police was quick and all the people of Rindge pay is one flat fee to the city of Keene. just like Phillipston does to Templeton with Templeton taxpayers getting all the forever bills. Now it is reported in The Gardner News that Athol will partner with Gardner in dispatch. I wonder what the cost, the savings to Athol taxpayers will be. One looks at the taxes received by other towns and cities from electric companies with no cost to taxpayers and then look at the savings to other towns who regionalize dispatch and you should ask why not Templeton? The city of Gardner will get $22,500.00 just for an ambulance co. doing business in their city. Could Templeton get away from town owned ambulance service and get away from the forever bills and be better off financially? Would Templeton be better off financially with an on call Health agent rather than a fulltime agent with the pay and benefits? Barre manages to do it, can Templeton? I am not sure the Templeton selectmen have the will to even ask the questions but they have no problem asking for more taxes. My opinion is they should be doing both, if they are asking for you to do more, they should do more. Of course, the other elected boards have to be willing as well, especially the board of health. Some towns do not have health agents and members of the BoH do quite a bit of the work. The sky did not fall when the conservation agent left, when the affordable housing coordinator was no more. Check to see what the Templeton school assessment will be in FY2015 (the upcoming town meeting in May) I am betting it did not go down.
ReplyDeleteJeff on Gardner getting 22k for a ambulance co you are only telling half the story the fire dept will run its own ambulance and hire 8 new firefighters so stop twisting the facts and tell the whole story ..ya getting like the media only telling us what you want us to here !!!!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, there will now be 8 more Gardner employees with 8 more new forever bills and when they retire, there will be 8 more. so which is cheaper in the long run, overtime or 8 fulltime employees? The question is and the point is, would it be financially better to receive $22,500.00 so a private co. can provide ambulance service or is it financially better to run your own ambulance service (town). So in Gardner's case, there is not much of an advantage to having an outside ambulance service along with a city service. If you remember or if you followed the blog back a ways, this is not a new position for me and I have spoken to present Templeton fire chief on this. My position was and still is, the town would be better off financially to contract out it's ambulance service and have no town owned ambulance service but if you want a town owned ambulance service then support an ambulance receipts account. So while those 8 new city employees may be paid out of an ambulance receipts account now, sometime down the road they will retire, just like the ambulance employees in templeton and those retirement and health insurance costs will be paid from your taxes, not the ambulance receipts account. You can check to see if retirement expense for the town will go down or up next year. The facts are if you want this service, it will cost you more in taxes now and in the future. You know what one of the biggest financial hurdles cities and towns face, the future costs of retirement and health insurance and please do not take my word, check it out.
ReplyDeleteOn another financial subject, it is often stated the town of Templeton and it's water dept. does not have the money to replace aging water mains. On the MA DOR division of local services website, there is an explanation of overrides and debt exclusions, there is also a special debt exclusion which states for a few limited capital purposes a community may assess taxes above its levy limit or levy ceiling without voter approval. It allows a community to add water and sewer project debt service costs to its levy limit for the life of the debt as long as it (town) reduces water and sewer rates by the same amount. This special debt exclusion is adopted by a majority vote of a city council or town selectmen. Two questions; does this mean the selectmen have the power to raise the funds to replace all of the aging town water infrastructure and if the answer is yes, would they do it?
ReplyDeleteLast night at the Selectman's meeting, our Light and Water manager were present. I should have brought my crying towel, as the tale they told was indeed heart breaking. It does seem they are having a problem coming up with the funds to pay the town this year. How can that be ?? Have they spent too much on raises ?? Is too much hid in MA Reserve Trust, or MMWEC ?? These people throwing out numbers like 40K, or doing a project is laughable, when in 1976 the Light Department contributed $45,000. in lieu of taxes. During 1979 the department increased it's value by 80,466.As a result the department increased it's PILOT to the town by $10,000. that year, paying the town $60,000. These people need to understand that this is a payment that replaces taxes, just like you and I pay. Doing a project does not cut it in my book, especially when we are short money to do the things we need. This is not the barter system !! Do you or I walk into the Tax Collector with a chicken or a pig, as the payment for our taxes ?? No we don't and neither should they. A amount should be decided on, and they should plan on a way to pay it, just like you or I do. The "we don't have the money !", is a story you should not believe. This is our business and I believe they should continue to put their budget in the annual report, so their share holders can see where the money has gone. We are due some accountability, no matter how vague it is. Bev.
ReplyDeleteThe money for the PILOT has been diverted to the budget they have grown enough to keep it so they show only a small surplus. Key Questions to ask.
ReplyDeleteHow much did the wind turbine cost? How much did the wind turbine make?
How much did the wind turbine repair/maintenance account go up?
100,000.00 ?
How much was spent foolishly on lawyers fees?
The leash on the general manager is way to long and must be shortened soon.
Dana has proven he's not capable of doing that and only Gregg Edwards has a voice at the meeting from what i ever hear.
In one week you can change this way the commission deals with the General manager.
VOTE SMART
Join the other 912 who looked to change the commission last year.
We can make the TMLWP our business again.
The General manager and Dana said they operate on a 8% margin by law.
What they don't tell you is all other income is above that margin and extra.
All the work done for the state at the ferncol property is extra income.
Where did or is that going?
How much do we spend on tree cutting and other things the light crew should be doing?
The budget could use a bit of looking at but unless you go to a meeting and record it and review it after.
You would have no info.
I would request the budget be put on the TMLWP web site for us all to see the budget they say has no yearend surplus.
All surplus should be turned over to the town and not turned over to shady deals with m.m.w.e.c.
All power purchase agreement contracts should be as required by law on file with the selectboard office.
I would think they are 5,000.00 or more and as the 164 law reads they need to be on file here not at mmwec.
Where is the contract for power we purchase from seaman Paper co? Do they get a netmetering deal the rest of us aren't allowed to have?
If you Elect to change this commission you will find out.
It is after all,our business to know about!
We should all know where we stand and should not have to push to have the laws followed properly.
Vote Smart!
The light dept and the DOR says the Templeton Municipal light & Water plant is covered by MGL c 164. Well section 47c which Sean Hamilton referenced at a selectmen meeting covers Municipal electrical cooperatives, so perhaps the first question should be who owns the Templeton Municipal Light & Water plant. Sections 56 and 57 cover the financial reporting responsibilities of the general manager. All those legal bills with regards to records request remind me of when I requested copies of public records from the selectmen's office and I got letters from Kopelman & Paige law firm instead, seems like Mr. Driscoll learned from someone who operated the same way.
ReplyDeleteDebt is covered in MGL c164 section 40 then go look at MGL c 44 section 8
ReplyDeleteThanks, my friend. This is good to know. Our new people on the BOS have to be very careful when giving answers off the cuff. There is too much to learn about this business, to rush to judgment without looking ahead. The good old boys would be thrilled if Ken and the rest of his board jumped at a lousy 40K. I wish I knew how the people in control, thought that they were going to make due with no money from the Light Co. when "the petition" was hand carried for signatures. Could it be that BOS thought the Light Dept. was going to continue to float the boat. Actually they did help out for a while, but I guess it all depends who is in charge. Actually the town has been in deep crap before so you would have thought the powers to be would have learned. Maybe destroying the town has been the plan all along. Bev.
DeleteI am waiting for the Templeton is open for business sign to go up. Also the school budget should be out now so we can all see which way the school assessment went, up or down. The wood chips are suppose to be the big game changer and save, save, save so maybe they can now afford a librarian.
ReplyDelete