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Lancaster celebrates Town Hall's centennial
Found: 3 Days 20 Hours 6 Minutes ago
Sentinel And Enterprise - LANCASTER -- Nearly 50 people gathered in the Town Hall Sunday afternoon to sing "Happy Birthday" to the 100-year-old building....
Paper is a feather in young birder's cap
Found: 4 Days 2 Hours 47 Minutes ago
Boston Globe - NORWICH, Vt. - The lead author of an article about finches nesting on a Peruvian glacier in a scholarly bird journal is affiliated with the Geosciences Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst....
Becket church seeks new pastor
Found: 4 Days 3 Hours 30 Minutes ago
Berkshire Eagle - Sunday, November 16
BECKET — A new pastor, and a new parsonage. The First Congregational Church is looking for both....
String theory
Found: 4 Days 23 Hours 10 Minutes ago
Boston Globe - The Friday afternoon was unseasonably warm for fall , with a cloudless blue sky and temperatures in the upper 70s. Parks and sidewalks across the city were packed with people out enjoying the weather. But on Lamartine Street in Jamaica Plain, all the real action was happening inside....
3 20-foot flagpoles mark rededication at Lakeside Ave.
Found: 4 Days 23 Hours 40 Minutes ago
Telegram & Gazette - The medical van owned by Veterans Hospice Homestead of Fitchburg has the following schedule this week:...
Adrian Peterson taking charge of Vikings
Found: 5 Days 3 Hours 2 Minutes ago
Boston Herald - EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Ever since he was a Pop Warner mini-stud in little Palestine, Texas, Adrian Peterson has been taught to let his play do the talking for him.By......
Greenfield assessors say tax rate will increase 49 - 69 cents per ...
Found: 5 Days 14 Hours 40 Minutes ago
Union News & Republican - Cuts in school staffing lowered the city's health insurance costs.By DAVID A. VALLETTE
dvallette@repub.com
GREENFIELD - The Board of Assessors estimates that Greenfield tax rate will climb by at least 49 cents - and perhaps as much as 69 cents - in this fiscal year.
"We would like to advise Town Council that the best possible estimate of the tax rate is between $17.40 and $17.60," the assessors stated in a report issued on Wednesday, and which will be taken up by the council next week.
The fiscal 2008 rate was $16.91 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The rate for fiscal 2007 was $17.10.
The new rate, retroactively applied for the year that began on July 1, will be finalized by the state Department of Revenue.
The assessors, as they have done every year, are recommending that the council keep the single-rate system whereby all property owners pay taxes at the same rate, rather than having homeowners pay at a lower rate than business owners.
In fiscal 2008, the owner of a home valued at $200,000 paid $3,382 in taxes. A house of the same value this year would pay $3,520.
Overall residential property values have declined since last year by about 2 percent, reducing the impact of the higher rate, the assessors said . Commercial property overall values did not decrease, however.
The council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday night at 7 in the studio of Greenfield Community Television to determine if a single or split rate be applied to taxes this year. Last November, the council voted 8-4 to keep the single rate.
The council is also scheduled at the meeting to vote on alterations to the city's $41 million current budget, redistributing $600,000 that had been assigned to pay for employee health insurance. The health insurance allotment can be dropped from $7.1 million to $6.5 million "without risking deficit at the end of the fiscal year," Marjorie L. Kelly, finance director, told the council.
Lane said the factors that allow the $600,000 reduction include cuts in School Department staffs, with savings of about $450,000 in insurance premiums, and a $150,000 reduction in insurance costs for retirees.
Kelly's plan for the $600,000 includes applying $175,000 to meet the budget's revenue deficit; put $250,000 into the school accounts, and spread the rest into five other accounts, including treasurer's expenses and veterans' services.
Interim Schools Superintendent Susan D. Hollins, in a Nov. 7 letter to the council, said she will ask for $258,000. Her outline for use of the money includes hiring a technology teacher, returning a librarian to full-time, and hiring other teachers, including a half-time art teacher.
She said that an administrator also needs to be hired for $65,000, but this would come out of $200,000 the state has awarded in extra funding.
The $200,000, said state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell D. Chester in an Oct. 31 letter to school and city officials, will be delivered once his office is assured that Greenfield has entered talks with the Gill-Montague Regional School District on sharing services, including possibly a shared school superintendent.
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Ambulance HQ moves to WMass
Found: 5 Days 20 Hours 6 Minutes ago
Union News & Republican - Am-B-Care Ambulance Services to move its headquarters to the former Kittredge Equipment Supply building. The Republican: John SuchockiAm-B-Care Ambulance Service plans to move its headquarters from Auburn to the former Kittredge Equipment Supply Co. building at 2155 East Columbus Ave.
By JIM KINNEY
Business writer
SPRINGFIELD - Am-B-Care Ambulance Service plans to move its headquarters from Auburn to the former Kittredge Equipment Supply Co. building at 2155 East Columbus Ave.
The building will house ambulance crews as well as administrative offices, dispatchers, mechanics and maintenance and training facilities, said Frank J. McNeil, Am-B-Care chief executive officer. He expects the company to start moving in by Dec. 15.
The company is going to create bays so ambulances can pull into the building from Boylston Street, and is working on obtaining additional parking in the neighborhood. McNeil said about 80 employees will "come and go" from the facility at various times. Of the 80, he said about 30 will be hired in the next six to seven months, with the remainder being transfers from the to-be-closed Auburn headquarters or other locations.
He said a beginning emergency medical technician can make between $20,000 and $30,000, while an experienced paramedic with extensive training and the ability to do advanced life support can earn as much as $90,000 a year.
Am-B-Care is keeping its station at 100 Verge St., just off Boston Road in Springfield, as well as locations in Northampton and Milbury, McNeil said.
Am-B-Care started providing emergency-911 service in Northampton in cooperation with the city Fire Department there in July 2007. The company also has contracts with Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton and Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, McNeil said.
Am-B-Care also responds to 911 calls Chicopee and Ludlow when the Fire Department ambulances in those communities are busy.
"When we did our business plan in 2006, it called for the focus of our growth to be along the Interstate 91 corridor," McNeil said.
Am-B-Care, which is owned by McNeil and three partners, plans to bid on Springfield's 911 ambulance contract when it comes up for review next summer, McNeil said.
The former Kittredge building was ideal because it is close to Mercy and Baystate and to Interstates 91 and 291, McNeil said.
Kittredge Equipment Supply Co. moved its restaurant supply from Springfield to Agawam in December. The 83,000-square-foot building was sold to 6 Liberty Street LLC in February for $450,000. The corporation lists Hansraj Gada, of 15 Worthington Brook Circle, Agawam, as its manager.
McNeil said Am-B-Care has a five-year lease for 20,000 square feet in the middle of the building and plans to make the bays for ambulances to pull in and out facing Boylston Street because traffic is too heavy on East Columbus. He declined to disclose the financial terms of the lease.
Jim Kinney can be reached at jkinney@repub.com ...
Vivian D. MacDonald, 80,
Found: 6 Days 6 Hours 33 Minutes ago
Community Advocate - Marlborough - Vivian D. (Lanoue) MacDonald, 80, died Saturday Nov. 8, 2008, at Marlborough Hospital. She was the wife of 45 years to Chester MacDonald, who died in 1991. She is survived by her sons, Chester MacDonald and Scott MacDonald, and her daughters, Diane Hanson, Joyce Pavento and Karen MacDonald....
Study could lead to consolidation of Catholic schools in Springfield, ...
Found: 6 Days 6 Hours 58 Minutes ago
Union News & Republican - The study will be completed before the end of this year and recommendations will be made public after the first of the year.File photo / The RepublicanThe Our Lady of Hope School in Springfield is one of eight Roman Catholic schools in Chicopee and Springfield that are being studied for possible consolidation.
LIST OF SCHOOLS
The following are the Catholic Schools in Springfield and Chicopee, along with their enrollments:
Springfield
• Holy Cross School, 418
• Holy Name School, 168
• Mount Carmel Academy, 140
• Our Lady of Hope School, 199
• Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, 191
Chicopee
• Holy Name School, 147
• St. Joan of Arc/St. George School, 355
• St. Stanislaus School, 377
By HOLLY ANGELO
hangelo@repub.com
A study reviewing the eight remaining Catholic schools in Springfield and Chicopee is underway by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, which could result in the consolidation of some of those institutions.
"The goal is to determine the most effective configurations and the most suitable locations for our Catholic schools so that they may accommodate the current student population, provide for potential increases in enrollment, maintain financial stability for programs and operations, and enhance our academic excellence," wrote Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell in a letter to parents and the parish communities.
The eight schools are: Holy Cross, Holy Name, Mount Carmel Academy, Our Lady of Hope, and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, in Springfield; and Holy Name, St. Joan of Arc/St. George, and St. Stanislaus, in Chicopee.
The diocese announced the study on Friday and the 1,995 students in grades pre-kindergarten through eight who comprise the eight schools were given letters Friday to bring home to their parents. All of the schools are parish schools, meaning the parish is financially responsible for their operational costs. However, increasingly, the parish schools are asking the diocese for financial assistance, said Mark E. Dupont, diocesan spokesman.
Catholic schools have been struggling with dwindling enrollment, changing demographics and economic challenges, resulting in increased tuition, for years. For just those reasons, St. Patrick's School in Chicopee closed its doors this year, ending a 128-year-old tradition. Since 2001, five other Catholic schools have closed and two have merged with other schools in the cities of Holyoke, Springfield, Westfield, Pittsfield and Easthampton.
"The pastors came to us and asked us to help guide them and undertake this study," Dupont said. "It's no secret our parishes have been faced with increased economic pressures."
Franciscan Sister of St. Joseph M. Andrea Ciszewski, diocesan school superintendent, is coordinating the study. An ad hoc committee was created that began meeting on Oct. 30 and will make final recommendations to a steering committee by the end of December. Final recommendations won't be made public until after the first of the year. Dominican Sister Ann Dominic Roach, former superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, is the chair of the ad hoc committee.
"There will definitely be changes made," Ciszewski said.
Ciszewski said the goal is to address the issues of affordability and accessibility while continuing to offer a strong Catholic program. For parents feeling anxious about the study and its outcome, she said, "I do believe the parents want the optimum Catholic education provided to their children. I say to the parents to have hope in the time of change."
The announcement of the study should not come as a surprise. After St. Patrick's School announced in May that it was closing, the bishop said he would meet with Chicopee and Springfield parish schools to begin a dialogue on survival that would lead to a strategy that would run parallel to the diocese's ongoing pastoral planning initiative that outlines the closing and merging of churches. That initial discourse with school parishes happened and this study is what has followed.
"We're dealing with enrollment issues, financial constraints and the areas we live in," said the Rev. Charles H. Kuzmeski, pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. "We're all struggling. Sometimes we use the Band-Aid approach to things."
"I want to commend the bishop for commissioning the ad hoc committee to look at the schools. I see them as taking the future of Catholic education to heart."
The ad hoc committee is visiting each of the eight schools and reviewing several areas of operation, including the budget, demographics, geographic location, facilities, enrollment history and debt to the diocese, said Chester M. Clark, school financial administrator for the diocese who is also a member of the ad hoc committee.
"We're looking at every aspect of the school and trying to figure out the best way forward," Clark said.
Asked what she is telling parents at her school, Holy Name School Principal Patricia A. Kern said, "Pray." Holy Name in Chicopee has the second-smallest enrollment of the eight schools.
"Pray that the process does what it is supposed to do, which is to help all of us in Catholic education," Kern said. "I think the plan is, the hope is, this will ensure Catholic education remains strong in the diocese."
More details in The Republican tomorrow.
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