HAWLEY — Selectmen are still waiting for a response to their request that the state not buy up 90 more acres of taxable land in Hawley — when at least 40 percent of state-owned land within Hawley’s 31 square miles is already in conservation and is not generating tax revenue for this town of 340 residents.
But the issue is getting the attention of other town officials and of rural school superintendents. The Small Town Summit, which drew about 35 town leaders and local legislative aides in Charlemont earlier this month, is looking at the core tax base that small towns need to function on — especially when school costs make up 55 percent to 70 percent of their budgets. Some who spoke at the meeting think there should be a limit on how much undeveloped land the state should be allowed to own within any town’s borders.
The “Small Town Summit” meets again on June 2 at 7 p.m. in the Hawlemont Regional School.
Mohawk Trail Regional School Superintendent Michael Buoniconti and others are looking at how vast holdings of untaxed land affects rural school districts — where the per-pupil cost is high and there are few businesses or industries to provide tax revenues. Buoniconti has raised the idea of asking the state for “sparcity aid” for education in towns with vast land masses and small populations — of 10 students or less per square mile.
Besides seeking tax-loss compensation, Hawley wants the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to repair flood-damaged roads through the state forests, including Middle Road, Hunt and Hallockville roads, that have been closed ever since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The lack of emergency access through the state forests, the town argues, could hinder firefighting or hamper efforts by town first-responders to find and rescue injured people in the forests.
The Selectboard has proposed legislation to require the state get town meeting approval for land purchases in towns where the state already owns 30 percent of the land. This is similar to a regulation in the Adirondacks and Green Mountain National Forest, to ensure local concerns are addressed before state or federal land purchases.
Selectboard Chairman John Sears says the town hasn’t yet heard back from state agencies, but have been in touch with state representatives about this issue.
State Sen. Benjamin Downing says he shares the town’s concern and has been speaking to Matthew A. Beaton, secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, about the long-impassable roads.
Downing represents 17 towns in which the state owns more than 20 percent of all town land. “I’ve reached out to DCR and to Energy and Environmental Affairs to see if there’s any way to fix Middle Road, and to see if there’s a better way to meet everyone’s goals to preserve land and the infrastructure within it,” he said.
When asked to comment, DCR spokesman Troy Wall sent The Recorder an email, saying: “The agency will continue to work with local officials and stakeholders regarding land management within the Town of Hawley, as well as any future acquisitions.”
The state now gives Hawley a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) for state forest land that is about 57 percent of what the town would get in tax revenues, if that land was in private ownership. This is an increase over what the town got before 2013 — which was only about 25 percent of the tax value.
Also, Hawley gets no compensation for another 600 acres owned by the state Department of Fish & Wildlife, according to Hawley Treasurer Virginia Gabert, who has been gathering information about how much tax-free and tax-reduced land has cost the town in potential revenue.
According to the 2013 Cherry Sheet of State Owned Land provided by the town, the state owns 7,988 acres of forest in Hawley — about 40 percent of all land in the town. In addition, another 212 acres of totally tax-exempt land, owned by tax-exempt charitable groups, comprises another 6 percent of town land and would generate another $13,600 in town taxes if it were on the tax rolls.
When the town denied an application for a tax exemption to the New England Forestry Foundation in 2009, for 134 acres of Hawley forest, the foundation appealed its $172 tax bill. It eventually won a Supreme Court decision that the land should be tax-exempt. But in preparation for that case, town officials researched how much land within its borders wasn’t taxed. For instance, full taxation of DFW’s 591 acres is estimated to be worth almost $25,000, and the full tax value of the DCR state forest lands is worth about $113,150. But before 2015 the town was given about $35,000 in PILOT money. In 2015, the state paid Hawley $64,278, which was an improvement.