Voters in the community of around 2,000 gathered in the Becket Washington School Saturday to decide on 37 articles on the warrant. Included was a $7.6 million operating budget for fiscal year 2025, an over 7% increase from the year before.
“Personally, I think it was a great budget. We gave our staff a 4% raise overall, with the exception of our ambulance squad, which got a 10% raise. But besides that, I felt our group did a really good job at keeping the budget tight," said Becket town administrator Katherine Warden. “Two of the things that were big were vocational tuition- We have 20 students going to voc next year, that was a 66% raise at $400,000. And then one of the other big ones was county retirement at 8.5%.”
Zoning bylaw amendments aimed at stricter regulation of short-term rentals arrived at Becket’s town meeting with the support of the planning board but the opposition of the select board.
“It was intended to accomplish, shall we say, laid down ground rules for anyone that wanted to do a short-term rental in Becket," said Warden, who told WAMC the proposal sparked a spirited debate. “Everyone treated each other with respect, but that being said, there were a lot of concerns that about that maybe the town had possibly overstepped, putting in more regs than needed, because some of this stuff is already covered under Mass General Law. There were concerns that you lived in the house in Becket and had it have it registered as a trust, you couldn't rent your house as a short-term rental, and there was concerns over that. My concern as town administrator is, we as a town hall hadn't been given this information or asked for our input of how much time this was going to take out of different departments’ day, week, month year, so there was no- We, I had no plan way to plan for this extra time that would have had to be inputted to this.”
Becket voters chose to table the amendments, which would require a two-thirds majority to pass. WAMC asked Warden if she feels that short-term rentals contribute to the town’s lack of affordable housing — a pressing issue across Berkshire County.
“Unfortunately, I do think short term rentals are encouraging that," she responded. "We do have a shortage of homes for low to moderate income levels currently, so I do think this has a lot to play in it.”
Another article on the warrant that left town leaders split – this time, with the community preservation committee for and the select board against – failed outright at the meeting.
“The voters rejected the town hall cupola restoration," explained Warden. "The cupola had originally come off of the Becket Washington School, and it had been placed on Town Hall a few years ago, and or quite a few years ago, and then due to age and the climate, it needed to come off so it could be rebuilt. During the process for the restoration and the engineering because of wind shear, the project increased considerably. It was going to be approximately $50,000.”
The town also carried out an array of bylaw updates suggested by a review committee, including addressing the language of the bylaws themselves.
“I think that definitely it would be a case of bringing Becket into the 21st century," Warden told WAMC. "So, instead of having everything being he, we are now going to they, them, and themselves. It was changed on the floor. Originally, we had he/she, his/hers, or himself to themselves, and someone put up a vote to change it to they, them, and themselves.”
Warden offered a glance at challenges ahead for Becket.
“We have to start planning for affordable housing, definitely," said the town administrator. "And Becket Town Hall, as well as many other town halls in Berkshire County, is going to start retiring. Different positions will retire out, and it's getting the staff that is qualified to step into those positions, and it's not an easy thing to do.”
