BUCKLAND — The town’s multiple ZIP code problems have been heard by the state, prompting the Department of Revenue to study if ZIP code-based data has affected calculations for state aid, school assessments and where excise tax bills are sent — both in Buckland and in other rural towns.
In a recent email to town officials, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg says the state Department of Revenue (DOR) is building a database, listing and summarizing areas in which agency measures or reports on income and other data “by geographic area, how that analysis is done, and whether the ZIP code issue is relevant.”
Rosenberg said a revenue official is reviewing how such DOR data is used and when it is provided by DOR to other parts of state government. “DOR has promised a full report, including recommendations for solutions, by early summer,” he wrote. “Several of you have brought to my attention problems created by the mismatch between zip code boundaries and municipality boundaries,” he said. “I know this is especially a problem with the smaller towns in my district, and we have been working hard to address it.”
In Buckland, ZIP code confusion has 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.
Last year, in calculating a local option meals and hotel tax, the DOR erroneously attributed Buckland’s restaurants to Shelburne.
“The Shelburne Falls ZIP code applies to five different towns — Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain and Shelburne,” says David Sullivan, special counsel for Rosenberg’s office.
“What we’re learning is some of these issues are not just for Buckland,” he said. “What we can do is try to make sure that the (state) Chapter 90 roads and bridge funding is correct — that MassDOT (Department of Transportation) is allocating that money properly, according to where people live.”
According to Sullivan, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has resolved problems with Buckland’s education contribution formula, and corrected information about Buckland’s local option sales tax for meal taxes.
“We’re not going to completely resolve the problem,” said Sullivan. “What we can do is make sure that the state agencies involved are correctly apportioning the money. For a small town, even a little money makes a difference.”
Last year, Buckland town officials questioned state calculations for the town’s educational “minimum contribution” requirement, because the calculation is based on the income level and property valuation for a small percentage of the town population with the 01338 “Buckland” ZIP code.
“This has meant that approximately 10 percent of the town’s higher property assessments has been extrapolated to represent 100 percent of the town’s value — and that the Shelburne Falls ZIP code information, which represents close to 80 percent of (Buckland’s) value has been used to set lower values for the town of Shelburne,” selectmen said in a recent letter to District Manager David D. Mastroianni Jr. of the United States Postal Service.
The Selectboard has also received a reply from Mastroianni, who said an “intense review” of Buckland’s mail delivery was conducted and that “the complexity of the mail processing networks does allow for a change to be made to the Buckland customers with street addresses of Shelburne Falls.”
One issue, he said, is that there cannot be duplicate addresses between the towns and ZIP codes involved, “and in this case all of the Post Office Box customers of Shelburne Falls and Buckland would need to change their Post Office Box number.” Also, there are 26 duplicate addresses that would need to be changed, along with delivery customers.
Because of this impact, USPS would need “confirmation that the residents of Buckland, Charlemont and Shelburne — especially the Post Office Box holders as well as those with impacted street addresses, are in agreement with this change,” said Mastroianni. “At that point, we will work together to determine a date that the change would take effect and assign the new Post Office Box numbers and 26 street addresses.”
The Selectboard said they would discuss the issue at a future meeting.