BUCKLAND — How does the state measure any town’s per-capita income and average single-home property value when that town’s population is divvied up under several ZIP codes?
Buckland has been asking this question for years. Now so is the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.
DOR Deputy Commissioner William McNamara came from Boston to Buckland recently to meet with several hilltown officials to talk about getting accurate financial data about towns, despite multiple ZIP codes.
“What we found out is, up until now, the DOR has relied on ZIP codes,” said Dena Willmore, chairwoman of the Buckland Selectboard.
Buckland has about 1,900 residents and is served by four ZIP codes. But Buckland’s school assessment calculations have been based on the per-capita income and property values of “Buckland 01338,” which represents only about 300 residents with above-average incomes and property values. For years, selectboards have been concerned that the town’s “minimum contribution” for education, which is set by the state, was too high because most of Buckland’s moderate to low-income residents live within the Shelburne/Shelburne Falls ZIP code: 01370.
Another issue cropped up last year, when the DOR sent out a newsletter, estimating how much potential revenue towns and cities could receive if they levied a local meals tax in restaurants and eateries. In that article, DOR calculated “zero” restaurants in Buckland — all because the Buckland’s five dining places were attributed to Shelburne on account of their 01370 ZIP.
The state Department of Revenue (DOR) agrees with Buckland that splitting a town into multiple ZIP codes could be skewing demographic used to calculate school assessments and other revenue calculations.
“It’s kind of a breakthrough for us that the DOR recognizes this is an issue,” said Willmore. “They are working for ways to get around it.”
What McNamara discovered is that by entering both a ZIP code and a four-digit delivery code on a computer, he could determine which town an address really belongs to. To get their mail, Buckland residents must list their mailing addresses as “Shelburne Falls 01370,” “Ashfield 01330,” “Buckland 01338” or “Charlemont 01339” depending on which post office provides their mail carrier service.
“But it’s not just Buckland’s problem,” said Willmore. “It actually is a pretty major issue for the state. We didn’t know that. We stumbled on it.”
Willmore said when McNamara tried attaching the Buckland delivery codes onto the ZIP codes, only three or four out of 27 addresses didn’t indicate the town. She said McNamara wants to do more research to see if this method of gathering town demographic data will work. “There are so many towns that have multiple ZIP codes,” said Willmore. “It seemed to work for Buckland. Now he’s going to take it forward and do a test for other towns.”
The Small Towns Summit group, started by the Charlemont Selectboard, has placed the issue on its list of legislative priorities and has been gathering anecdotes from local town officials to present to the DOR and other agencies.
Earlier this year, Buckland discussed asking the U.S. Postal Service to reduce the number of ZIP codes serving Buckland, but the process for doing so is very complicated. At the time, post office officials stressed that ZIP codes were created solely for efficient mail delivery — not for other municipal purposes.
The problems caused by ZIP code confusion have included voter registration, excise taxes being sent to the wrong town, delayed mail receipts and errors on birth and death certificates. Also, state agencies have apparently used ZIP code-based data, which may have resulted in miscalculations for the town’s educational funding.