January 2024: Letter to the Editor

 January 2024, Newsletter  Comments Off on January 2024: Letter to the Editor
Jan 052024
 

Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of us, Belmont residents! 1. The Opinion by Max Colice on Chapter 61B [“Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break?”, BCF Newsletter, November 2023] was an eye opener: our property taxes subsidize the Belmont Country Club! In the meantime we are discussing an upcoming override to increase the taxes we now pay. This excellent idea to contact state Senator Brownsberger and Representative Rogers needs to be pursued promptly! I suggest we collect signatures from Belmont residents in a bulk kind of letter and send it to the [READ MORE]

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Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break?

 Newsletter, November/December 2023, Open Space  Comments Off on Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break?
Nov 012023
 
Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break?

By Max Colice Over the past 10 years, the Belmont Country Club has received tax breaks totaling more than $4 million on its property tax bills thanks to a state law called Chapter 61B. Chapter 61B allows country clubs and other private nonprofit organizations to get a 75% discount on property taxes for recreational land, including golf courses. Belmont taxpayers pay for this enormous tax benefit. That’s because when one taxpayer’s bill goes down, everyone else’s bill goes up to offset that reduction. In other words, every taxpayer in Belmont has been subsidizing the Belmont Country Club’s property taxes for [READ MORE]

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Why We are Running a Pro-Development Piece

 Newsletter, Sept/Oct 2022  Comments Off on Why We are Running a Pro-Development Piece
Sep 092022
 

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Long-time readers of the Newsletter may be surprised to see an article proposing more intensive development in Belmont. The Belmont Citizens Forum was created in 2000 by a group of residents who opposed the scale of development proposed by McLean Hospital on its Belmont Hill campus—initially over 1,000,000 square feet. Much of that development has not transpired, as commercial property developers have not found the McLean location attractive. The McLean development proposed in the late 1990s came with the promise of substantial new revenue. Specifically, in 1999 the town’s financial impact consultant estimated that the McLean [READ MORE]

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Belmont is Sitting on a Fiscal Cliff

 Construction and Housing, Newsletter, Open Space, Sept/Oct 2022, Town Committee Meetings  Comments Off on Belmont is Sitting on a Fiscal Cliff
Sep 092022
 
Belmont is Sitting on a Fiscal Cliff

By Max Colice, Elizabeth Dionne, and Dan Barry Belmont is effectively insolvent. It cannot pay its operating expenses and pension debt without one-time federal aid. Compounding this problem, Belmont’s operating expenses are rising faster than its revenue. Unless Belmont increases its revenue, the town may have to cut services drastically.  Like every other town in Massachusetts, Belmont’s revenue comes mainly from property taxes. The Board of Assessors assesses each property’s value, then computes the property tax by multiplying the property value by the property tax rate. Even though Belmont’s property tax rate is relatively low, its single-family property tax bill [READ MORE]

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2021 Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

 Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Climate Change, Environment, March/April 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Select Board, Sewers, Stormwater, Traffic, Transit, Water Quality  Comments Off on 2021 Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions
Mar 012021
 
2021 Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

Each year, the Belmont Citizens Forum asks Select Board candidates questions about issues facing our town. This year, Mark Paolillo, who is running unopposed, provided answers. He was limited to 1,200 words. Describe your vision for preserving and enhancing Belmont’s quality of living, learning, working, and connecting. Preserving and enhancing Belmont’s quality of life must begin with making town finances stable and sustainable. This will require a more in-depth approach to long-term structural reform.  Belmont should consider the use of performance management budgeting which measures resource input against the resulting output of services for each department. That will help us [READ MORE]

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