Blandford – The Gateway Collaborative Task Force met in Blandford Thursday night with representatives from five of the six Gateway hilltowns and the school district, to talk about the state of the towns as they start to prepare their budgets for FY 2018. The Gateway hilltowns include Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery and Russell. Only Montgomery was absent from the meeting.
There has been a lot of activity in the hilltowns over the past year, since all six towns signed the Community Compact in May and formed the Hilltown Collaborative. The compact has the towns looking at two different tracts, sharing resources and economic revitalization.
Andy Myers, finance committee representative from Chester, who also heads the Hilltown Collaborative, said that representatives from the Massachusetts Division of Local Services (DLS) will be coming to a meeting on Tuesday to talk about sharing resources. The DLS helps cities and towns achieve sound and efficient fiscal management through technical assistance, training, and oversight, according to the state website.
The second half of the meeting on Tuesday will be led by Elan Planning & Design, who has been working with the towns on an economic development strategy.
Myers said two of the areas that the Hilltown Collaborative is pushing hard are broadband access and a turnpike exit in Blandford. Both are considered key to economic revitalization in the area.
Derrick Mason, finance committee representative from Russell, said another group out of the Hampshire Educational Collaborative in Northampton started an initiative called Healthy Hampshire. Mason said they came out to the hilltowns over the last few months, and ran a series of workshops to look at issues and possible solutions
Mason said they brought experts in the areas of planning, architecture, landscaping and food. He said they will be issuing a final report in about a month, which they’ve been asked to share with Elan.
“The results were awe-inspiring. It was totally free –didn’t cost us a dime,” Mason said.
He also reported on a legislative forum held by the Jacobs Ladder Business Association (JLBA), at which they pushed hard on the issues of the turnpike exit and broadband access. Mason said the legislators are pushing the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) and WiredWest to work together and get back on track.
During the budget discussion, Task Force co-moderator Darlene McVeigh of Huntington presented a spread sheet she had put together comparing finances in the six towns. She said the comparison shows that three of the towns have minimum override capacity, and Russell is close to hitting their levy ceiling.
“The interesting thing is trends. The income side hasn’t kept up with the expense side. I think the towns and the school have to keep our budgets tight, keep our expenses tight so we can build some momentum, and have some success,” said Myers.
Most of the towns reported that they are starting the budget process for 2018.
During the budget discussion, different possibilities for resource sharing in the future were raised, including going in on capital expenditures for equipment as well as sharing current equipment. One suggestion was to cooperate on snow removal, such as completing whole stretches of roads, instead of turning around at town lines. The example given was Skyline Trail in Middlefield, Chester and Huntington.
McVeigh asked whether there might be 9c cuts this year from Boston, which would reduce current year school aid.
Gateway business manager Stephanie Fisk said that when enacted those cuts come anywhere from November to January, but there has been no word yet. Fisk said that budget sheets went to Gateway administrators three weeks ago, and she doesn’t see any major significant increases. She said the Central Office will meet in mid-November to start going over line items.
In response to a question on the numbers of students at Gateway, Fisk said they are holding firm with 850 last year, and 851 currently. She said that Gateway is looking at different strategies moving forward such as online courses, internships and directed studies for smaller classes.
“We’re hoping to keep it (the budget) about the same as this year, that is, unless there are 9c cuts,” Fisk said.
Also discussed was the need for the Gateway School Committee to get a valuation on Worthington’s share of OPEB retirement and health benefits incurred while they were part of the district, and start to bill them for their share. Since Worthington left without going through the regional agreement process, no plan for payment was put in place.
“They need to do that valuation, because the further you get away from it, the harder it will be to determine how much Worthington is responsible for,” said McVeigh.
The Gateway Task Force will meet next on Oct. 6 with MARS (Mass. Association of Regional Schools), the consultants hired by Gateway at the request of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), as part of a series of meetings the consultants will have with stakeholders in the Gateway district.
