Fact Check Northampton

Fort Hill isn’t closing. Smith is closing it.

That sounds like a small difference. It isn’t. “Fort Hill will close” makes it sound like the weather. Something bad is coming and all we can do is count the damage. But Smith made this decision, and Smith says money wasn’t the reason. It told the Gazette and WAMC the closure isn’t about budget and isn’t about quality. It’s a “reallocation of resources.” In other words, Smith had the money and chose to spend it on something else.

Smith had other options. Keep it open. Phase it out so the kids there now could finish. Let someone else run it. It chose none of them.

What it offered instead is a subsidy for its own employees. I get why that sounds generous. But a subsidy doesn’t build a classroom or hire a teacher. Smith is asking other providers to hold spots for Fort Hill kids. That doesn’t add care. It just moves Smith families up the line, and everyone else moves back.

Look at infant care, the hardest kind to find. State licensing data shows 82 center slots in all of Northampton, Florence and Leeds licensed to take babies. 27 of them are at Fort Hill. When it closes, 55 are left for the whole city.

So here’s the question I keep coming back to. Smith is a tax-exempt institution with no PILOT agreement with Northampton. It gives the schools $166,666 a year, and that ends after FY2027. Of 11 Massachusetts colleges we compared, it ranked last in payments as a share of endowment. What does Smith owe the city that hosts it?

Not “where will we find care.” Why did Smith decide we shouldn’t have it?

Sources are on the poster. Our full Smith College PILOT comparison is here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CnYL9vnr4/

***re-posting because of the glitch where it asks a reader to send a message when the photo is clicked. sorry about that. fairly sure it is user error***

From 2016 to 2025, the city’s capital plans said garage repairs would “reduce the need for emergency repairs,” “preserve the extensive structural work,” and “negate the need for more extensive work down the road.” Today the top floors of the Gare garage are closed, the lower levels are shored up, and the engineers recommend demolition.

There are two separate problems in that garage. The first is corrosion. Road salt and water get into the decks, the steel inside rusts and swells, and the concrete breaks off. That can be patched, and the city has been patching it since 2002. The second is alkali-silica reaction, or ASR. A reactive stone in the original concrete mix forms a gel that swells and cracks the columns from the inside. In other words, the concrete is attacking itself. The engineer told City Council there’s “not really a viable way to cure it.” That’s why repair isn’t recommended: patching the corrosion doesn’t stop the reaction underneath it.

Industry guidance calls for an engineer to assess a parking garage every three to five years, and more often in harsh winter climates like ours. The city’s own timeline lists one condition report in 2001 and nothing else until December 2025. None of the capital plan sheets that promised those results cites an engineering assessment. Whether earlier inspections would have caught the ASR sooner can’t be known from the public record. But by the city’s own timeline, no engineer was asked to look.

Over the same years, $5.39 million in city-controlled money went to Picture Main Street. $4.17 million of it is still unspent. That’s more than the $3.3 to $3.8 million estimate to demolish the garage and build a surface lot. A new garage is estimated at $18 to $33 million. Council can reprogram appropriations, as it did for this garage in 2024.

Massachusetts doesn’t require these inspections. The industry guidance does. So does the city’s own newest capital plan, which now says proactive assessments “help prevent accelerated deterioration and avoid significantly higher costs.”

From 2016 to 2025, the city's capital plans said garage repairs would "reduce the need for emergency repairs," "preserve the extensive structural work," and "negate the need for more extensive work down the road." Today the top floors of the Gare garage are closed, the lower levels are shored up, and the engineers recommend demolition.

There are two separate problems in that garage. The first is corrosion. Road salt and water get into the decks, the steel inside rusts and swells, and the concrete breaks off. That can be patched, and the city has been patching it since 2002. The second is alkali-silica reaction, or ASR. A reactive stone in the original concrete mix forms a gel that swells and cracks the columns from the inside. In other words, the concrete is attacking itself. The engineer told City Council there's "not really a viable way to cure it." That's why repair isn't recommended: patching the corrosion doesn't stop the reaction underneath it.

Industry guidance calls for an engineer to assess a parking garage every three to five years, and more often in harsh winter climates like ours. The city's own timeline lists one condition report in 2001 and nothing else until December 2025. None of the capital plan sheets that promised those results cites an engineering assessment. Whether earlier inspections would have caught the ASR sooner can't be known from the public record. But by the city's own timeline, no engineer was asked to look.

Over the same years, $5.39 million in city-controlled money went to Picture Main Street. $4.17 million of it is still unspent. That's more than the $3.3 to $3.8 million estimate to demolish the garage and build a surface lot. A new garage is estimated at $18 to $33 million. Council can reprogram appropriations, as it did for this garage in 2024.

Massachusetts doesn't require these inspections. The industry guidance does. So does the city's own newest capital plan, which now says proactive assessments "help prevent accelerated deterioration and avoid significantly higher costs."

Over the past week we have looked at three property tax tools that other Massachusetts cities and towns use. Northampton has not adopted any of them. None of them changes how much the city collects. They change who pays.

The residential exemption. This lowers the taxable value of homes where the owner lives. At 10%, that is $51,731 off every owner-occupied home. The tax rate goes up to make up the difference, from $13.67 to about $14.82. Owner-occupied homes worth less than about $667,000 pay less. The average single-family home would pay about $110 less a year. Owners of rentals and second homes pay about 8.4% more, as do owners of higher-value homes. The mayor and City Council can adopt it.

There is a companion tool already in state law. Since 2023, cities can give a tax break to owners who rent at affordable rents to lower-income households (Section 5O). The city sets the rent level and the income limit, up to 200% of area median income. The mayor and City Council can accept it. Paired with the residential exemption, it is aimed at keeping rents for lower-income tenants from rising when rental owners’ taxes go up.

The small commercial exemption. This takes up to 10% off the value of commercial properties worth under $1 million. There is a catch, and it is the point. The building has to be filled with small businesses (10 or fewer employees) on January 1. An empty storefront doesn’t qualify. On an average commercial property, that is about $1,000 a year for the owner. In other words, it rewards landlords for renting to local small businesses instead of leaving space vacant. Owners of larger commercial and industrial properties pay more, and so do owners of vacant storefronts. Home tax bills don’t change. The mayor and City Council can adopt it each year.
Income-based senior relief. At least 15 towns, including Brookline, Sudbury, Concord and Lincoln, give seniors tax relief based on income. A senior who owns the average Northampton home and earns $25,000 pays about $4,981 today after the state credit. Under Brookline’s model, that senior would pay $2,500. Other homeowners cover the cost, up to a cap of about $20 to $78 on an average home. This takes a special law from the Legislature.

The state also allows another senior option without a special law. Clause 41C½ is an income-limited exemption worth 5% to 20% of the average home value. Voters accept it at a city election. Northampton uses an older version today, Clause 41C, which gives $1,000 to seniors with income under $30,203 (single).

So who would these help? Owner-occupants of modest and average homes. Lower-income seniors. Small businesses and the landlords who rent to them. Owners who keep rents affordable.

Who would pay more? Owners of market-rate rentals, second homes and higher-value homes. Large commercial and industrial owners. Owners of empty storefronts. And, by small amounts, other homeowners.

Several of these can be adopted here. One needs Boston.

Dollar figures are our calculations from state and city data.

Sources:
M.G.L. c. 59, § 5C (residential exemption): https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter59/Section5C
M.G.L. c. 59, § 5O (affordable rental exemption): https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter59/Section5O
M.G.L. c. 59, § 5I (small commercial exemption): https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter59/Section5I
MA DOR IGR 93-402, Small Commercial Exemption: https://www.mass.gov/doc/93-402pdf/download
MA DOR IGR 17-12, Clause 41C½: https://www.mass.gov/doc/igr-17-12-clause-41c-12-property-tax-exemption-for-seniors-supersedes-igr-15-209/download
Northampton Assessor, Real Estate Tax Exemption Programs for Seniors (March 10, 2026)
MA DOR TIR 25-7; MA DLS Residential Exemption Calculator and average single-family tax bill, Northampton FY2026
City of Northampton FY2026 Tax Classification Hearing
Massachusetts Session Laws, including Acts of 2022 ch. 437 (Brookline) and Acts of 2012 ch. 169 (Sudbury)

Misinformation Has a Cost. Northampton Doesn’t Have to Pay It.

Part 3 of our look at the property tax tools the state allows.

Many of you have told us you’re worried about being taxed out of your home. The residential exemption helps lower-value homes, but it doesn’t look at income. At least 15 Massachusetts towns have gone a step further. They got permission from the Legislature to give seniors tax relief based on income.

Here is how it works. The state already has a “circuit breaker” credit for seniors, worth up to $2,820 a year. The town then adds its own exemption on top, up to half the bill. Towns have done this two ways:

10% of income (Sudbury, Brookline, Concord, Lincoln, Marblehead, Harvard). The town covers the part of the bill above 10% of the senior’s income. In other words, a senior’s property tax ends up at about 10% of what they earn.

Match the state credit (Andover, Melrose, Wakefield, Holliston, Norwell, Easton, Reading). The town’s exemption equals some share of the state credit, anywhere from 25% to 200% depending on the town.

Take a senior who owns the average Northampton single-family home. The bill is $7,801. After the state credit, that senior pays $4,981 whether they earn $15,000 or $45,000.

Under the 10% of income model:
$15,000 income: pays $1,500
$25,000 income: pays $2,500
$35,000 income: pays $3,500
$45,000 income: pays $4,500

Under a 100% credit match, every senior on that home earning under about $50,000 pays $2,161.

The first model gives the most help to the lowest incomes. The second is simpler to run.

Who qualifies? In most towns: 65 or older, 10 years in town, income under the state circuit breaker limits ($75,000 single, $112,000 joint), and a home worth less than a set cap. Towns can also turn away applicants with large assets.

Who pays? Other homeowners. Some towns cap the total. Brookline’s cap is 0.25% to 1% of the residential levy. Here that would be about $171,000 to $686,000 a year, or about $20 to $78 on an average home.

Northampton can’t do this on its own. The City Council would vote a home rule petition and the mayor would approve it. Our state legislators would file it, and the Legislature would pass it and the Governor would sign it. Five towns got theirs signed in 2026 alone.

Dollar figures are our calculations from state and city data.

Sources:
Massachusetts Session Laws: Acts of 2012 ch. 169; 2022 chs. 100, 190, 193, 210, 437; 2023 ch. 19; 2024 chs. 31, 58, 100, 101, 102; 2026 chs. 67, 103, 111, 206. https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws
MA DOR TIR 25-7, circuit breaker credit: https://mass.gov/technical-information-release/tir-25-7-annual-update-of-real-estate-tax-credit-for-certain-persons-age-65-and-older
MA DLS average single-family tax bill, Northampton FY2026; City of Northampton FY2026 Tax Classification Hearing

Misinformation Has a Cost. Northampton Doesn’t Have to Pay It.

Part 2 of our look at the property tax tools the state allows.

The residential exemption shifts taxes within the residential class. There is a version for businesses too. The small commercial exemption (M.G.L. c. 59, § 5I) can cut up to 10% off the taxable value of commercial parcels worth under $1 million. To qualify, every business on the parcel must have 10 or fewer employees, counting all of its locations.

Who pays less? Owners of those smaller commercial parcels. The tax bill goes to the property owner, and the business doesn’t have to own the building. The parcel has to be occupied by a qualifying business on January 1. A parcel sitting empty doesn’t qualify.

Who pays more? Owners of commercial property worth $1 million or more, all industrial property, parcels with a larger tenant, and commercial parcels that are vacant. Home bills don’t change. By law, the cost stays within commercial and industrial property.

Here is the context. Since FY2022, the average Northampton home tax bill went up 24%, from $6,303 to $7,801. The 10 largest business properties without a tax incentive deal went up 1% on average, from $142,030 to $143,268. Homeowners’ share of the tax levy rose from 81.1% to 84.4%. That is about $2.7 million a year that moved onto homes.

What would the exemption cost those 10 large properties? If 10% of commercial value qualified, about $1,168 a year each, on average. At 25%, about $2,955. At 50%, about $6,035.

What did they avoid as the levy shifted to homes? Compared to their taxes growing 2.5% a year, they paid $13,507 less in FY2026. Compared to keeping their FY2022 share of the levy, $21,332 less.

In other words, a commercial exemption could help small businesses, especially those that own their building. It would ask the largest commercial owners to pay more, but less than what they have avoided as residential values climbed.

Northampton has not adopted this exemption. The mayor would decide each year, before the tax rate is set, with City Council approval.

All dollar figures are our calculations from Assessor and state data. Actual bills may differ with abatements.

Sources:
M.G.L. c. 59, § 5I: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter59/Section5I
MA DOR Informational Guideline Release 93-402, Small Commercial Exemption: https://www.mass.gov/doc/93-402pdf/download
MA DOR Form 128-5I: https://www.mass.gov/doc/state-tax-form-128-5i-application-for-small-commercial-exemption/download
Northampton Assessor record cards, FY2022–FY2026
MassGIS Property Tax Parcels
MA DLS tax rates and average single-family tax bills
City of Northampton FY2026 Tax Classification Hearing

Misinformation Has a Cost. Northampton Doesn’t Have to Pay It.

“And now for something completely different.” (Monty Python’s Flying Circus)

We have been looking at the past few years of the city’s budgets. Lots of great conversation and comments. Many of you have told us you’re afraid of being taxed out of your home. The state gives cities some options for changing who pays. Here is one.

What it is. A residential exemption (M.G.L. c. 59, § 5C) takes up to 35% off the taxable value of homes where the owner lives. The city still collects the same total tax, so the tax rate goes up for everyone. Northampton has not adopted it.

What it’s aimed at. Lowering taxes on lower-valued properties. At 10%, owner-occupants of homes under $666,654 pay less. A $400,000 home would save about $314 in Year 1.

Who pays more. Owner-occupants of homes over $666,654. Also owners of non-owner-occupied rentals, large apartment buildings and second homes.

Where it’s used. Concord is one of 20 Massachusetts communities with this exemption. Concord adopted 10% in FY2024.

What could come next. The state also allows income-limited senior relief (Clause 41C½) and other senior exemptions. It allows tax relief for owners who rent to low-income households at below-market rents (§ 5O). Those could be considered alongside this option.

The table shows each year’s change and total bill for owner-occupied homes, with the levy rising 2.5% a year. How many Northampton homes would qualify is unknown, so it uses the state calculator’s default assumptions.

Sources: MA DLS Residential Exemption Calculator and Parcel Count report, Northampton FY2026; City of Northampton FY2026 Tax Classification Hearing; Concord Tax Relief Evaluation Task Force Report (April 2026); M.G.L. c. 59, § 5C, § 5, Clause 41C½, and § 5O.

Residents keep asking the same questions about Picture Main Street, the next override, and school funding. So I put the city’s answers next to the city’s own records. Twenty-one questions, four pages.

A few things stood out.

The mayor’s presentation counts $5.4 million of the city’s share of Picture Main Street as “state and federal grants.” About $4.1 million of that is federal ARPA money the city already turned into free cash. In other words, it is the city’s own money. The $3,150,523 set aside for the pipes had not been spent as of September 1.

The city says the override won’t pay for the project. Not directly. But override money the city doesn’t spend becomes free cash, and city policy sends about a third of free cash to capital projects. That’s how the last override worked: the reserve fund it was meant to refill got its deposits “from Free Cash.” Picture Main Street’s overruns past 10 percent of the contract are, in the city’s words, “the responsibility of the City.” The city has named Chapter 90 to cover them. Nothing in its policy keeps free cash out of that bill, or out of the next capital project. Meanwhile the mayor says “we fully expect an override to be needed ahead of the FY2028 budget.”

The School Committee asked for $50,372,969. The schools got $46,599,217. That’s a $3.77 million gap. The “40 percent increase” holds if you count from FY2022. Count from FY2023 and it’s 32.5 percent.

Some things the city has not shown at all: what the private vaults cost, where the Main Street pipes rank against the rest of the system, and the final engineering estimate.

Every answer names its source underneath. If a number is wrong, tell me which one and show me the record. Corrections get published.

Misinformation has a cost. Northampton doesn’t have to pay it.

Nobel Prize for Economics (well, sort of, it’s the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) will be announced on Monday. I’ll keep my phone at bedside.

One Budget, Two Seasons

Northampton's charter sets the capital plan deadline at least 120 days before the fiscal year, and the operating budget deadline at least 45 days before. That puts them about two and a half months apart, by design.

Here is what that looked like in the winter of 2024–25. On December 17, the state certified $11.7 million in free cash. By January 30, $1.07 million was still available. The operating budget, the one with the teachers, the firefighters and the plow drivers in it, arrived in the spring.

Two decisions. Two seasons. Never on the table at the same time.

Does it have to work this way? No. Four Massachusetts towns show how.

Lexington publishes one book every February. It has the operating budget, the capital budget and a table showing where the free cash goes. In FY2025 that was $17 million. Every capital project names its funding source. Town Meeting sees all of it before voting on any of it.

Amherst, next door, puts both on the same clock. Their charter has the town manager send the operating budget and the capital plan to the Council by May 1. The Council adopts both by June 30. Capital gets a set share of the tax levy, 10.5%. And in the spring, the Council asks for a ranked list of what to fund if free cash comes in that fall.

Brookline has it written into the law that created its town administrator. The administrator must prepare an annual financial plan that includes the capital program. Capital gets 6% of the prior year's revenue. Free cash has a written order of priority.

Arlington puts its capital program in the same budget book as its operating budget, and both go to Town Meeting. Capital gets 5% of projected revenue, and has since 1986. And up to half of its free cash goes into the operating budget every year. $8.9 million in FY2025. Its long-range plan assumes free cash will be certified at its ten-year average.

None of these towns is a twin of Northampton. Arlington still needs overrides. Amherst's own capital committee says its needs exceed what the town can afford. This is not a list of towns with more money. It is a list of towns that show the whole picture at once.

Would this close the budget gap? By itself, no. A calendar does not create revenue.

But it might help more than you'd think. When every cost is on the table at the same time, you can have a real conversation about priorities. This project or that position. This year or next. That conversation can't happen when half the list is already decided.

And it goes a long way toward closing the other gap. The credibility gap. It is hard to ask people for an override when they can't see how the last dollar was chosen. It is easier when they can.

One plan. One season. Everything on the table.

That is a choice. Northampton can make it too.

Sources: City of Northampton Charter, Sections 7-3 and 7-5; MA Division of Local Services free cash certification, Dec. 17, 2024; City of Northampton "Financial Trends and Projections," Jan. 30, 2025. Town of Lexington, FY2025 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan. Amherst Home Rule Charter, Sections 5.4, 5.5 and 5.7; Joint Capital Planning Committee report, draft of April 16, 2025. Town of Brookline, FY2024 Capital Improvements Program. Town of Arlington, FY2025 Budget, Capital Improvement Program and Financial Policies.

Misinformation Has a Cost. Northampton Doesn't Have to Pay It.