Great Barrington Annual Town Meeting Resumed on 2026-05-04

The Great Barrington Annual Town Meeting for 2026 resumed on Monday, 2026-05-04, with a quorum present, following Saturday's adjournment. Neither the agenda nor minutes were available, so this summary is based solely on the raw transcription. The meeting acted on remaining warrant articles, including Community Preservation Committee funding, a seasonal community designation, and an advisory residential tax exemption vote.

Article 19: Unemployment Trust Fund Transfer

• The Finance Committee moved to appropriate $40,000 from free cash to the town's unemployment trust fund. The fund is a reserve used to cover unemployment benefit claims and helps avoid operating-budget surprises. The motion carried.

Article 20: Short-Term Rental Impact Fees to Affordable Housing Trust

• The town voted to transfer $31,933.99 from the short-term rental special revenue fund to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. These funds were 3% impact fees on professionally managed short-term rentals and on short-term rentals in two- and three-family dwellings, collected under G.L. c.64G §3D(a) and §3D(b). A prior transfer of $71,747.17 had been made last May. The motion passed.

Community Preservation Committee Appropriations, Article 21

• Karen Smith, CPC chair, moved the FY27 Community Preservation Fund appropriation: $67,500 to the historic resources reserve; $67,500 to the community housing reserve; $0 to the open space reserve; $53,513 for Memorial Field Improvement Project debt service; $10,000 for administrative expenses; and $476,487 to the FY27 budgeted reserve.
• She explained that the CPA was adopted in 2012 and is funded by a property-tax surcharge plus a state match. The FY26 surcharge cost for a median single-family home was about $164, with the median home value cited as roughly $512,000. Low- and moderate-income seniors may apply for an exemption.
• Since adoption, CPA has awarded 98 grants totaling $9.4 million: 23 affordable housing grants totaling $3.9 million, 43 historic preservation grants totaling $3 million, and 32 open space and recreation grants totaling $2.5 million. These have helped produce 170 new affordable housing units and preserved numerous historic, open space, and recreation sites. The motion carried.

Community Preservation Committee Project Appropriations, Article 22

• The CPC recommended eight project appropriations totaling $993,000, with each item treated as a separate appropriation: $325,000 for the Affordable Housing Trust; $37,000 for the Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire; $200,000 for the Du Bois Freedom Center; $50,000 for Town Clerk Document Preservation; $75,000 for Elmwood Cemetery Monument; $91,000 for Brown Mausoleum Preservation; $50,000 for Old Maid's Park Engineering and Design; and $165,000 for Housatonic Playground Improvements.
• Town Planner Chris Rembald presented the projects. He said the Affordable Housing Trust's FY27 emphasis would be down payment assistance and possible development of land it has acquired; the Du Bois Freedom Center grant is $200,000 toward a $1.6 million project phase; the town clerk's project would begin preserving required records, including the 1761 town meeting warrant and historic vital records; and the Housatonic playground project would resurface the cracked basketball court and make it usable as a pickleball court.
• Sharon Gregory, a former Finance Committee chair, said she supported CPA adoption in 2012 but now is concerned that the grant process lacks Finance Committee and Select Board review, that the town collects roughly $1 million annually, and that the town must be prudent after writing a $5 million marijuana settlement check and struggling to cut expenses.
• During the item-by-item discussion, a resident asked whether the $50,000 document preservation project would extend to donated historic materials beyond town hall. Town Manager Liz Harsgrove answered that it is limited to documents in the town clerk's purview at town hall.
• James Bailey asked about the CPA state match; the response was that it was originally about 100% and has fallen to about 25% as more towns adopted CPA.
• On the cemetery items, Walter Atwood, Cemetery Commission chair, said the perpetual care fund earns only about $1,700 a year and cannot keep up with fallen stones; he noted the town has already repaired the Weatherby mausoleum as precedent. Steve Bannon said fallen monuments are a safety issue and a matter of respect. A motion to delete line 5 (Elmwood Cemetery, $75,000) failed, as did a motion to delete line 6 (Brown Mausoleum, $91,000). Denise Forbes, who moved to delete line 6, argued the money should instead go to town-owned buildings such as Ramsdale Library and that the town should take care of the living. The final Article 22 motion passed.

Article 23: Property Tax Exemption for Legally Blind Residents

• The town voted to accept MGL c.59, s.5, cl.37A, increasing the property tax exemption for legally blind residents from $437.50 to $500. Once accepted, the prior Clause 37 exemption would no longer apply. The motion carried.

Article 24: Seasonal Community Designation

• The town voted to accept designation as a seasonal community under G.L. c.23B, s.32B and the Affordable Homes Act. Acceptance does not change zoning immediately; the town has up to 24 months to adopt any required zoning amendments, and the designation can be revoked without financial penalty if the town chooses not to.
• Officials said the designation provides access to tools such as year-round occupancy restrictions, local housing trust funds, fair-housing-compliant preferences for essential employees and artists, expanded residential exemption authority, and zoning for undersized lots and tiny homes. It also makes the town eligible for up to $2 million in grant funds and a seat on a state advisory council. Great Barrington's seasonal-unit share was cited as 12.71%, with 7.60% short-term rentals; the state threshold is 12.5%.
• Trevor Forbes asked for the seasonal population definition and data, saying Great Barrington may be lower than many other communities. James Bailey opposed the designation, saying the Massachusetts Municipal Association is opposed to aspects of it, state mandates would reduce local zoning control, and the town should retain control over its character; he also cited existing affordable housing achievements and said a no vote did not mean opposition to affordable housing.
• Residents who spoke in favor included Ray Matos, who said the designation would allow affordable housing to be prioritized for police, teachers, EMTs, and other essential workers; and Fred Clark, Affordable Housing Trust co-chair, who said it would expand income eligibility headroom and provide new tools for projects such as the former Simon's Rock property. Charles Ferris said he generally favored it but cautioned the Select Board against optional provisions such as a 50% residential exemption. Officials confirmed that EMTs and other first responders qualify as essential employees. The motion passed.

Article 25: Brush Hill Road Culvert Easements

• The town authorized the Select Board to acquire temporary easements by donation, purchase, or eminent domain for the Brush Hill Road culvert replacement and streambank restoration, and appropriated $1,000 from Chapter 90 funds. Because the article involved real estate interests, a two-thirds vote was required; the motion passed.

Article 26: Sheffield Resident on the Housing Authority Board

• The town authorized filing special legislation to allow one resident of Sheffield to serve as an appointed member of the Great Barrington Housing Authority Board. The Housing Authority oversees properties in both towns; the article only requested the eligibility change and did not make an appointment. Karen Smith supported it as a long-overdue representation issue, and the Housing Authority board chair noted that no specific Sheffield candidate has yet stepped forward. The motion carried.

Article 28: Cannabis HCA Impact Fee Reimbursement

• The moderator noted that Article 27 had been dealt with on Saturday. The town then voted to appropriate $118,014.16 from free cash to reimburse Great Barrington Retail, Inc. (formerly Coastal Cultivators, LLC) for community impact fees it paid under its host community agreement. The stated rationale was consistency with settlements with other cannabis establishments and avoiding litigation risk; the money had already been received and was not added to the tax rate.
• Denise Forbes opposed the reimbursement, citing youth-impact concerns raised on Saturday and the town's budget difficulties. A Select Board response said the payment was proactive, avoided tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, and treated this establishment consistently with others. In answer to a resident's question, officials said host community agreement awards were one-year awards, and current HCAs now follow state Cannabis Control Commission guidelines. The motion carried.

Articles 29 and 30: Residential Tax Exemption and Related Article

• Ray Murray took over as moderator for Articles 29 and 30. Article 29 was an advisory resolution, moved by Bill Meyer, that the Select Board implement the residential tax exemption under MGL c.59, s.5C at its next annual tax classification hearing.
• Bill Meyer spoke in support, saying the RTE is a state-authorized tool that would stabilize the community; he disclosed that he might pay more if it passed. He used 20% as a middle example and stressed that the Select Board could set, change, or end the exemption annually. He noted that about 15% of housing stock is owned by second homeowners and argued the RTE would spread the burden of coming capital costs fairly and prevent unsustainable tax increases for vulnerable residents.
• Opponent Chip Elitzer, a part-time resident since 1995, said the RTE is revenue-neutral and works best in towns where 80–90% of property value is second homes; Great Barrington has only about 15% second homes. He cited a calculation that a full 50% RTE would create a tax rate of $21.47 per thousand, 55% higher than the FY2024 actual rate of $13.89, and that even a 20% RTE would put Great Barrington among the 25 highest-tax cities and towns in Massachusetts. He argued the root problem is the regional school district allocation formula, which he said makes Great Barrington overpay by $7.1 million, and urged support for Senate bill S400.
• Additional opponents included Jonathan Hankin, who said the RTE is a bad fit with only 8–12% second homes and would cost $75,000 to implement; a resident who built during the pandemic, who said her property assessment rose more than 40% and the RTE would add about $2,345 on top of school-related increases; Trevor Forbes, who said it penalizes people who improve their homes and would hurt fixed-income and longtime residents; Myron Falchuk, who cited resale-value effects and one original petitioner's second thoughts; Charles Ferris, a real estate attorney, who said it would shift more than $300 million of assessed value onto roughly 500 second homeowners, raise rents, and could lower home values; Vivian Orlowski, who said it ignores income and would hurt full-time residents on fixed incomes and proposed a task force; and Michelle LeBert, who said Wellfleet's assessor told her the RTE works best with a wide resident/non-resident split and that Great Barrington's split is too narrow.
• Supporters included a lifelong resident who said 40% of Great Barrington residents earn $50,000 or less, the RTE would reduce taxes for 90% of resident homeowners, and Barnstable's adoption led to population growth, a 27% residential tax-rate reduction, and stable second-home ownership. Another supporter said side effects were manageable, projected rental increases were small (about 3%), and Cape demand had not collapsed. Alan Larr said he supported it only as a short-term stopgap and favored Senate bill S400 as the long-term solution. Eric Brune confirmed with the moderator that the vote was advisory only.
• The advisory resolution failed by recorded teller vote: 28 yes to 95 no.
• Immediately afterward, a motion was made to take no action on Article 30. It was seconded, no comments were offered, and the moderator initially announced the motion did not carry, then corrected that it carried; the original Article 30 motion was abandoned. The meeting then dissolved.

Key Outcomes

• Approved: Article 19 ($40,000 unemployment trust fund transfer), Article 20 ($31,933.99 to the Affordable Housing Trust), Article 21 (CPC FY27 administration, reserves, and Memorial Field debt service), Article 22 ($993,000 in CPC project grants), Article 23 (blind residents' exemption increase), Article 24 (seasonal community designation), Article 25 (culvert easement authorization, passed by two-thirds), Article 26 (Sheffield Housing Authority legislation), and Article 28 ($118,014.16 cannabis HCA reimbursement).
• Failed amendments: motions to delete Elmwood Cemetery and Brown Mausoleum projects from Article 22.
• Article 29 failed, 28–95. Article 30 was disposed of by a successful motion to take no action; the original motion was abandoned.
• The meeting dissolved after the votes.