Smaller Real Estate Tax Bill Jump in ’17 as Property Values Cool

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Photo: Belmont’s Assessors’ (from left) Charles R. Laverty, III, Robert P. Reardon, Martin B. Millane, Jr.

Real estate taxes on the average-valued home in Belmont will increase by the least amount in the past four years after the Belmont Board of Selectmen approved at its Monday, Dec. 19 meeting the recommendation of the town’s Board of Assessors’ to up the town’s property tax rate 14 cents in 2017.

The annual tax bill for the average assessed valued property – currently $941,700 – would increase by $311 to $11,960, less than half of last year’s hike of $717 under the new tax rate of $12.70 per $1,000 of assessed value. The current rate is $12.56 per $1,000.

Under the new rate, the annual tax for a property assessed at $750,000 will be $9,525, or $2,381.25 per quarterly tax bill.

The increase in the tax rate “is a result of a slight increase in real property values with an increase in the tax levy capacity,” wrote Assessors’ Chair Robert P. Reardon in the board’s yearly report to the Selectmen.

Reardon told the Belmontonian the town data showed a significant cooling in real estate values in Belmont this year. After increases of $55,300 ($782,600 to $847,900) from 2014 to 2015 and $79,500 between 2016-15 ($847,900 to $927,400), assessed values increased just $14,300 in 2017 compared to 2016.

After years of five percent increases in average assessed values, “[y]ou expect it to pull back, and it did this year,” said Reardon, who predicts home values will continue to level off in 2017 with two interest rate hikes anticipated by the Federal Reserve.

Under the new rate, Belmont will collect $85.6 million from residential, commercial, open land and personal properties. Last fiscal year, the town raised $82.9 million in real estate taxes.

Reardon noted a healthy increase in new property growth totaling $788,000 from the construction of the Belmont Uplands and the sale of prime properties on Woodland Road provided a “nice” bump into the town’s coffers.

As with past years, the assessors’ recommended, and the selectmen agreed to a single tax classification for all properties and no real estate exemptions.

Reardon said Belmont does not have anywhere near the amount of commercial and industrial space – at a minimum 20 percent – to creating separate tax rates for residential and commercial properties. Belmont’s commercial base is 4.24 percent of the total real estate.

“People always assumes there’s money if you go with the split rate and that’s not true,” Reardon told the Belmontonian.

School District Shuts Off Nine Faucets Due to Elevated Lead Levels

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Photo: Faucets at issue.

Nine faucets used for drinking by students and staff were shut off last week after tests showed the taps exceeding “action limits” for lead exposure, according to the Belmont School District.

District Superintendent John Phelan said in a Friday, Dec. 16 email sent to parents, six of the faucets were located at the Butler Elementary School with one each at the Wellington Elementary, Chenery Middle, and Belmont High schools.

Additionally, the State Department of Environmental Protection informed Phelan that as of Friday, Dec. 16, several samples from Belmont schools still are awaiting results.

When that information is provided to the school department, a full set of data will be placed on the department’s website. “I plan on sending out all the testing data on Monday [Dec. 19] as some late samples have to be added,” he said.

The next step is for the School Department to meet with the town’s Board of Health, Facilities and the Water Department to identify whether the same issues exist in the faucets themselves or the pipes, Phelan said.

Belmont joins a long list of school districts facing the same issue. Last month, 164 of 300 public school buildings in the state reported at least one sample with lead levels above regulatory limits, according to the DEP.

With water quality regarding lead contamination – the most prominent being the crisis in Flint, Michigan – making headlines across the country, the Belmont school department in the Spring 2016 requested the town’s Facilities Department test the water at Belmont’s six school buildings.

Fifty faucets were randomly tested throughout the school buildings, with all coming back below “action levels.”

Around the same time, the DEP sponsored $2 million in grants for municipalities to have their water levels tested. Belmont applied for and received this grant, said Phelan.

The second sampling was conducted this fall testing all 180 drinking water and food preparation faucets in Belmont schools using more detailed DEP guidelines. On Wednesday, Dec. 14, nine were found to have results exceeding “action levels” for lead.

“In an abundance of caution, these results were communicated to the BPS community as soon as they were received by the district,” said Phelan.

Despite the shut down and concerned calls from parents, Phelan referred to a Belmont Board of Health advisory that “the water in all of our schools has a good and clean source.”

For families concerned about the water in Belmont, Director of the Belmont Health Department Angela Braun has provided information listed below.

Director of BPS Nurses Mary Conant-Cantor remind parents they are encouraged to speak with their pediatrician regarding questions and concerns.

“Providing a safe environment in our school buildings each day for students and staff is our primary concern,” said Phelan.

“Moving forward we will continue to meet with the respective town departments to secure an action plan,” he said.

For additional information on lead and drinking water, please see the following links:

Letter from Angela Braun, director of Health Department

Center for Disease Control (CDC): http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm

Massachusetts Department of Public Health:http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/environmental/lead/lead-drinking-water-faq.pdf

With Pot Legal, Selectmen Consider Curbs on Retail Sale of Marijuana

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Photo: What could be coming to Belmont in 13 months.

A head shop on every street corner in Belmont?

While not the most likely business scenario for the “Town of Homes,” unless the Belmont Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting gets together to place allowable restrictions on the retail sale of marijuana, stores much like those in Colorado, dubbed “recreational dispensaries,” could spring up in Belmont’s commercial districts with no prohibition on numbers.

And the clock is ticking.

“If Belmont wants to control [marajuna sales], it has a shorter timetable than it realizes,” said Board of Health Chair Dr. David Alper who meet the Selectmen with fellow board member Julie LeMay on Monday, Dec. 12.

The possession, use, and home-growing of marijuana became legal under state law for adults 21 and older on Thursday, Dec. 15 when the Governor’s Council certified the ballot question 4 which passed on Nov. 8. Adults can hold up to 10 oz. and grow six plants with a maximum of 12 per household.

While municipalities can adopt an outright moratorium on “smoke” shops – Ashland has gone that route – that sell smokable and eatable marijuana, Alper noted Belmont residents voted 53 percent to 47 percent for legalizing pot. Also, prohibiting pot sales would preclude Belmont from receiving up to 2 percent local tax on purchases.

Rather than a ban, Alper advised following the state’s goal of treating marijuana like alcohol, such as placing a cap on the number of establishments in town. The only current restriction on pot shops is they can not be within 500 feet of a school zone.

But Alper said the town must have any limitations in the town’s bylaws by January 2018 when the new law permits the first head shops to open for business.

“[The selectmen] must have an article before Town Meeting [in May 2017] so the town can vote in September,” he said.

“You are driving [future restrictions],” Alper told the selectmen, who advised creating a committee with representatives from the Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning, and Health boards to create guidelines for the Selectmen to follow.

“If we do nothing, there could be as many stores … [located] anywhere,” said Alper.

How Much? Early Hints on Cost, Reimbursement for New High School

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Photo: A new school will be behind this sign within the next decade

So Belmont, are you ready to pay $140 million for a new 9-12 grade High School?

How about $175 million for a structure housing 8-12 grades?

And a whopping $211 million for 7-12 grades?

Now before residents begin forming pitchfork and torch brigades to march on the School Administration building, the proposed price tags are very rough and early estimates which were created by the 16-person Belmont High School Building Committee as part of the committee’s next step in a protracted journey to a new building, according to town and committee officials.

After successfully completing the initial eligability period in November – known as Module 1 – the Building Committee proceeds to Module 2 where they begin forming the school’s project team including a owner’s project manager and a designer.

“Now we’re off and running,” said Building Committee Chair William Lovallo as the project will begin to take shape with the first significant hirings.

But as the committee discovered during the initial module, working in partnership with the MSBA – which will – can be laborious. Hiring a project manager isn’t as simple as placing an ad and waiting for firms to respond. Rather, the MSBA requires a 25 step, five-month long process (Step 16: School Committee evaluates responses and prepares a short list of 3 to 5 firms) to select the person who’ll shepherd the project for what could be close to a decade until completion.

Not that Belmont will find it difficult to secure a big time manager Lovallo said since the district’s project is considered a plum assignment for most firms.

And part of the process is for the committee to come up with a very early idea of the possible cost of the structure when advertising for the manager post.

“The reality is the only reason [for the estimates for the three building types] is we had to put something [in the advertisement],” said Lovallo who put together a chart using the project costs from 13 new and one addition/renovation building projects financed by the MSBA.

Inputting number of students, square-footage of new schools, project budget with additional data, Lovallo came up with $95,053 for each student in the school in 2020. With an estimated enrollment of 1,470 (9-12) to 2,215 (7-12), the cost of the schools being designed will be impressive.

But Lovallo reiterated that “while these numbers are significant [in price], they are just numbers.”

“Until we know the programs, we have no real hard data just estimates,” he said.

While the Building Committee were estimating costs, the MSBA has preliminary results of its own – again early and rough – on the percentage the state would reimburse the town on construction costs.

Under a rate that will apply throughout the feasibility study process, Belmont will see a nearly 37 percent (actually 36.89 percent) of construction costs compensated. The rate was determined using a chart that included factors – such as income and property wealth – and incentives including energy efficiency and maintenance.

Only after the study is complete will the state determine Belmont’s final allowance.

In a rough estimate, the price tag of $140 million for a 9-12 school would be reduced by $52 million with the town paying $88 million.

While the meeting was dominated by charts and numbers, the committee began discussing the need for community outreach in promoting its work and keeping residents informed where in the process the project currently stands. A professional webpage and video presentations were two items that topped the list of public relations needs.

Celebrate the Winter Solstice With Belmont Light, Thursday 3PM-7PM

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Photo: Poster announcing this year’s Winter Solstice celebration

Belmont Light will be celebrating the Winter Solstice with its customers at the 40 Prince St. office on Thursday, Dec. 15.

The event will be held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and is open to all Belmont Light customers. Attendees are encouraged to bring a new or very gently used blanket, bedspread, comforter, or quilt with them to the event to help share the warmth with others in need.

Customers will have an opportunity to share a mug of hot cider or hot chocolate and say hello to special guest, Frosty the Snowman.

Belmont Light customers will be able to pick up a free CFL light bulb and an LED nightlight.

“Celebrating the Winter Solstice is always a fun event for the community and we encourage our customers to stop by our 40 Prince Street office to celebrate the beginning of the winter season,” Belmont Light General Manager Jim Palmer said.

“At the same time, it’s a great way to help others in need by donating bedding to Mission of Deeds.” 

For more information about Celebrating the Winter Solstice, please visit the Belmont Light website or call 617-993-2800.

Small Change to Start As Town Prepares for “Hands Around the Pond”

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Photo: All hands on deck!

Due to the expected wet weather on Saturday, Dec. 17, “Hands Around the Pond” has moved the start location to the Belmont High School cafeteria which is located off Concord Avenue.  
Participants can park in the high school parking lot and enter through the side entrance.     
There will be a short program, and then an assessment to either brave the elements to stand by the pond, or simply do a “virtual pond” in the cafeteria.  
A strong turn out is still needed from every corner of Belmont. Come for the community and free cocoa.

Celebrate The Season at the Holiday Coffeehouse Friday at BHS

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Photo: The poster for the Holiday Coffeehouse Fundraiser

Join the Belmont High School Performing Arts Company for its annual Holiday Coffeehouse Fundraiser taking place on Friday, Dec. 16 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Belmont High School  cafeteria.

The Holiday Coffeehouse has become an yearly favorite PAC tradition. Students transform the cafeteria into a cozy performance hall for an evening of songs, good food and festive celebration. Food and drink from local restaurants, along with home-made desserts complement the musical talents of BHS Students, who will perform a wide variety of songs including pop hits, original songs and the always-popular “Big Brass Band.”

Refreshements (dinner, drinks and desserts) will be sold.

Admission: $5 for Students, $10 Adults. Tickets sold at the door.

All proceeds go to scholarships for the PAC New York trip later in the school year.

Never Give Up: New Harris Field Press Box A Statement In Perseverance

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Photo: Belmont will soon have a press box at Harris Field: (from left) Jim Williams, Bill Webster, Bob McLaughlin, Rick Jones, Mark Paolillo and Sami Baghdady.

At Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Dec. 12, Bob McLaughlin told the old chestnut of Winston Churchill speaking to graduates at a college commencement after WWII.

“He told them “Never, never, never, never, never, never, never give up,” said McLaughlin.

And when it came to getting a new press box at Belmont High’s Harris Field paid for, “Bill Webster is our Winston Churchill.”

Since 2001, Webster – a long time member of the Belmont Permanent Building Advisory Committee – has led the effort through some difficult times to where he and his team of volunteers gave a ceremonial “big” check of $75,000 to the Selectmen for the construction this spring of the long-sought-after amenity.

For a decade and a half, since 2001, a group of Belmont Boosters and interested residents attempted first to receive from the courts an exemption to the American with Disabilities Act – they never did – from building an expensive elevator to the top of the stands adjacent to the Skating Rink.

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Then there was the challenge of raising the $150,000 needed to build the mechanism. Last year, an attempt at securing Community Preservation Act funds was turned down.

“It’s been a long, long road,” said McLaughlin. “But this year, the stars aligned.”

The town via Town Administrator David Kale, the support of the Capital Budget Committee and other left over athletic field funds provided $75,000 which would be released if the volunteers could match that amount.

McLaughlin praised Rick Jones – who was already instrumental in renovating the White Field House and the High School fitness center – who led the fundraising campaign which was supported by Belmont Savings Bank, the Brendan Grant Foundation, the Boosters and “lots and lots of great people” who contributed.

“This generous gift will allow us to move forward with this structure,” said Selectmen Chair Mark Paolillo.

$45M Substation Sale In A Bind As Town Assess Eversource’s Tax Motives

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Photo: The new electrical substation, not yet Eversources

The largest financial transaction in the Town of Belmont’s history is on tenterhooks as a last-minute dispute over a powerful regional utility’s attempt to limit its exposure to municipal taxes has town officials demanding changes to the already signed sales agreement.

With only four days left to complete the deal, the Belmont Light Board (made up of the Board of Selectmen) and the chair of the town’s Board of Assessors are seeking changes to or the elimination of a single paragraph in the sale of the town’s new substation and two land easements which would nearly zero-out the firm’s exposure to paying non-property taxes by binding Belmont to the utilities’ interpretation of those costs.

“We are at an impasse,” said Light Board Chair Mark Paolillo at the Board’s Monday afternoon meeting at Town Hall, Dec. 12.

“We as the town fathers would be failing to do our job to approve this agreement as it is right now,” said board member Sami Baghdady.

What’s not in dispute is the $45 million Eversource will pay Belmont for the newly-constructed 10,000 square-foot electrical substations off Brighton Street on Flanders Road on the Cambridge line and new 115 kV transmission lines using easements along the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks and on town property. The new substation was approved by a unanimous vote of Special Town Meeting in Feb. 2012.

Formerly known as Northeast Utilities, the Hartford- and Boston-based Eversource is a regional electrical and gas utility with more than 3.6 million customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. It merged with NSTAR in 2012.

Belmont Town Treasurer Floyd Carman said the payment, which last week he called the largest financial transaction the town has committed to, will be used to pay off $28 million in short-term bonds which financed the construction.

Carman said the remaining $17 million would be set aside to pay the cost of decommissioning Belmont Light’s three former substations located at the Chenery Middle School, off Hittinger Street and at the old Light Department Headquarters adjacent the Police Station on Concord Avenue and other improvements.

Under a joint development agreement, Belmont’s electrical utility Belmont Light and Eversource agreed to close the deal and transfer the assets two weeks after final testings concluded which occurred on Dec. 2. The Light Board – which is the governing body of Belmont Light – and Eversource then worked to reach an agreement before Dec. 16.

It was during the reading of the purchase and sale agreement that Baghdady, a transactional attorney, spotted a line in the document concerning the assessment of non-property personal services, which is the value of the contractional work on the project.

“I could tell that [Eversource] appeared to be attempting to minimize their taxes to the town,” said Baghdady.

While the Light Board signed the sales agreement at an Emergency Meeting on Friday, Dec. 9, it did so with the caveat that more information on the fallout of Eversource’s motive to add the language to the deal. The board then asked the town’s Board of Assessors’ Chair Robert Reardon to lend his expertise to the matter.

Reardon, whose day job is the director of the Cambridge Assessing Department, concluded the current language would bind Belmont’s assessors to that went against its best interest and ran counter to state assessing law which allows municipalities to not just tax real property but the value of the personal services, in Belmont’s case when engineers installed the transformers, switchgear, and protective equipment.

In Reardon’s opinion under the existing agreement, Eversource could point to the sales document to prevent Belmont’s assessors from taxing the services rendered.

In his view, the annual assessed payment from the utility to the town would be reduced from approximately $350,000 to $3,500, saving the utility $346,500 annually to Belmont’s deficit.

“I trying to protect the town,” said Reardon as he declared his opposition to the deal.

Belmont Light’s counsel Walter Foskett said Eversource could be reluctant to make changes to a signed sales document, but Paolillo noted that Eversourse “showed their hand” on including and defending the particular paragraph to the agreement.

“Why care about the language if you are not going to use it … for a tax break,” he said.

In the view of Reardon and the Light Board, taking out the disputed language doesn’t prevent Eversource from appealing the judgment of Belmont’s assessors to the appellate court.

“This is important enough to meet again,” said Paolillo.

Sold in Belmont: Only Million Dollar Homes Need Apply This Week

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Photo: The only single family home to sell last week and, as always, at a premium.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

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• 58 Summitt Rd., Townhouse (2005). Sold: $1,140,000. Listed at $1,275,000. Living area: 2,880 sq.-ft. 9 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 92 days.

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• 19 Fieldmont Rd., Tudor (1925). Sold: $1,195,000. Listed at $2,300,000. Living area: 3,952 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. On the market: 173 days.

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• 54 Selwyn Rd., Center entrance Colonial (1925). Sold: $1,250,000. Listed at $1,035,000. Living area: 2,763 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 68 days.

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• 47 Homer Rd., Center entrance Colonial (1940). Sold: $1,650,000. Listed at $1,699,900. Living area: 3,080 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 68 days.

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• 80-82 Lewis Rd., Two family (1924). Sold: $1,089,500. Listed at $995,000. Living area: 3,100 sq.-ft. 15 rooms, 7 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 82 days.