To the editor:
When it comes to our climate emergency, western Massachusetts communities get short shrift
As our “drill, baby drill” president dismantles environmental regulations and hands out tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry, one might expect our Massachusetts legislature to redouble its resolve to address our burgeoning climate emergency.
A critical tool to this end are the Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) reimbursements to help communities hosting large swaths of state-owned land fund roads and other services. As noted in our state auditor’s comprehensive 99-page report on “Pursuing Equitable State-Owned Land Reimbursements for Municipalities,” our forested acres “play a key role in climate change mitigation” by sequestering carbon, thereby helping to “offset greenhouse gas emissions.”
Yet my own rural Middlefield community receives only $16 per acre in PILOT funds for its 4,890 eligible acres, far below the statewide median of $127 per acre, while Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard receives $904 per acre for its 2,847 acres of state-owned land. To cite another example, our neighboring community of Savoy receives a mere $11 per acre, while the town of Plymouth is reimbursed at $102 per acre.
Historically, these reimbursements have been tied to assessed values, but do the state’s acres in wealthier towns sequester more carbon than those of our rural, forested ones? Of course not. But according to our state auditor, communities whose state-owned lands are at least 50 percent protected have median PILOT reimbursements of $110 per acre, while those with state lands at least 50 percent developed have median PILOT reimbursements of $936 per acre. In other words, the less carbon sequestration, the greater the state rewards.
Politely put, this is messed up. If our state reps agree that climate change is a burning issue, they can start by introducing legislation to implement uniform PILOT reimbursements statewide and stop shortchanging our rural communities in western Massachusetts.
Stephen E. Harris
Political economist
Technology author and consultant
Middlefield
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