Lanesborough Select Board Votes to Explore Restructuring Baker Hill Road District Tax

LANESBOROUGH -- July 13, 2026, Lanesborough Select Board votes to explore restructuring Baker Hill Road District rather than dissolving it. The five-member board unanimously authorized Vice Chair Julie Baker and member Michael Murphy to open exploratory talks with the Baker Hill Road District's Prudential Committee about reducing the district's $800,000 annual budget and $68-per-thousand special tax rate, a potential pivot from the board's existing settlement framework with JMJ and would-be mall buyer Cypress Equities, which requires full dissolution of the district in exchange for approximately $1.1 million. Baker argued that dissolution carries two sequential failure points, a required town vote and a required legislative vote, either of which could collapse the pending mall sale. "What I'm proposing is to continue negotiating with JMJ while keeping the Baker Hill Road District in place, but working with the district to basically restructure the finances," Baker said. Member Michael Murphy, who with Town Administrator Gina Caruso previously brought both sides into a private meeting that ended without agreement, said he was "pessimistic" but "willing to put some effort into it." The board also accepted a $61,500 bid from John and Melissa Bissell for a tax-title parcel on C Street, the highest of four sealed bids, and heard from the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District that improved container-packing at Lanesborough's recycling center has cut paper and commingled hauling costs roughly in half year-over-year, while a newly awarded state grant will allow the district to begin accepting rigid plastics by August 31.