BUCKLAND — Here’s a trivia question for West County residents: How many restaurants are in Buckland?
If you answered “six,” you’re not only correct, but you’ve answered six more than the state Department of Revenue has in a recent report called, “Statewide Analysis of the Local Option Meals Tax.”
According to that article, Buckland has no restaurants — hence no ability to collect a 0.75 percent meals tax — and town officials are blaming the state’s reliance on one of Buckland’s four ZIP codes.
“I can see four or five restaurants right from the (Town Hall) porch,” remarked Town Administrator Andrea Llamas. “I think (the DOR) ascribed all of Buckland’s restaurants to Shelburne, based on the 01370 ZIP code, and only used the 01338 (rural Upper Buckland ZIP code) for us.”
“The whole state assumes that 01370 is all Shelburne,” Llamas said of the Shelburne Falls ZIP code, which applies to the village that lies in both towns. “It keeps compounding.”
Many of the village’s food-serving businesses are technically on the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls, west of the Deerfield River, and they include The Blue Rock, McCusker’s Market, Buckland Pizza, the West End Pub, Caseys and Neighbors.
“They use an extremely flawed system, and it’s affected the town deeply,” Selectboard Chairman Rob Riggan said.
Buckland doesn’t have a meals and beverage tax, but the DOR article was intended to show town officials how much additional revenue could be raised if that tax were in place. Llamas said the miscalculation means the town doesn’t have useful information to determine how much revenue could be gained through a meals tax, and Shelburne’s numbers may be inflated.
Llamas sent a letter to the Department of Revenue Friday asking it to correct the calculations. “There has been some discussion about Buckland adopting this tax, but I would need the actual data to give that report to the Selectboard,” Llamas wrote. “When you look at 01370, you need to look at the actual location, because Shelburne Falls is not an actual town, and all places identified as Shelburne Falls are not automatically in the town of Shelburne.”
A few months ago, Buckland learned the town’s aggregate wealth, which is used by the state to calculate a town’s education aid and its net school spending requirement, relied on only one ZIP code, which is used by only 278 residents in an affluent section of rural Buckland. Based on the incomes of that group, the state determined that Buckland’s per-capita income was higher than Shelburne’s. Most of Buckland’s 1,900 residents use Shelburne Falls’ 01370 ZIP code, but other residents use ZIP codes associated with Charlemont, 01339; Buckland, 01338; and Ashfield, 01330.
Because all of Shelburne Falls is mistakenly thought of as part of Shelburne, many excise tax bills for Buckland residents are credited to Shelburne. And according to Llamas, many Buckland residents, who think of themselves as “Shelburne Falls residents,” have sent their excise tax payments to Shelburne.
“We are totally dependent upon Shelburne knowing that, and pulling that excise revenue for us,” she said.