LANESBOROUGH, Mass.— Unpaid taxes to the Baker Hill Road District will not likely fall on residents this fiscal year. 

"I think at this point in time, we don't need to panic. I was truly panicked at the previous meeting. I will say that," Chair Deborah Maynard told the Select Board and Finance Committee during a joint meeting on Monday.  

"So that is the good news, we met with [The Department of Revenue], we put our heads together, and came up with some different options." 

At the previous meeting, town officials discussed some $500,000 missing from the road district's approved budget for fiscal 2026. The district and JMJ RE Holdings, owners of the Berkshire Mall, are in litigation over unpaid taxes, and JMJ argues that they are being overbilled and underrepresented. 

Officials thought the funding gap might have to be raised through the local tax rate, but after conversations with the state Division of Local Services and the Department of Revenue, they found they could fine-tune estimated receipts to close a good portion of it. The road district also receives payments from Target, which owns and operates its building. 

The town has another couple of months to complete its tax recap sheet and expects the road district will provide an estimated budget for the rest of the fiscal year. The tax rate is set in November. 

"We will have a better idea, more in October of if there is a gap that we have beyond that, but at this point, based on what we have looked at in terms our estimated receipts, we will not have an additional amount beyond what was the original increase to the tax rate that was already approved at the annual town meeting operating budget," Town Administrator Gina Dario reported. 

At the annual town meeting in June, voters approved an amended fiscal 2026 budget of $12,565,654, a 5.6 percent increase from the previous year. 

Finance Committee Chair Lyndon Moors said this is a "multi-year issue," pointing to the the proposed senior living center at the mall that has a timeline of roughly 2 1/2 years. There is also the ongoing litigation, which was taken up later in the meeting. 

"We're facing a longer-term issue, and that's given the assumptions of his most optimistic plans," Moors said. 

"I'll leave personal commentary out of it, but I'm just looking at it in terms of numbers. This is going to be an issue with us for a while. We just don't know how long, and we don't know how to deal with it yet." 

An executive session was held to discuss "litigation strategy with respect to the property located at 655 Cheshire Road, Lanesborough, where a discussion in open session would have a detrimental effect on the Town's litigation position."

A December 2024 lawsuit filed by the road district seeks $545,000 from the mall owner for taxes due in May 2024. JMJ has demanded a jury trial, saying it has no contract with the road district and that it is acting outside its legal authority.

Consultant Timothy Grogan, of the Housing Development Corp., told the Select Board on Monday that JMJ will not be paying those funds unless a judge orders it. 

"In actuality, our non-payment of the Baker Hill Road District supplemental taxes is strictly related to their routine financial abuse of the property," he said. 

"And rather than running away and selling the mall for modest gain, as previous owners have elected to do as a direct result from the pressures of the Baker Hill Road District, we have elected to litigate this privately and exclaim their abuses publicly, because we believe in this property and believe beyond doubt that we can transform it into something that makes Lanesborough and the surrounding community proud." 

He reported that MJ RE Holdings will collaborate with Integritus Healthcare to redevelop the shuttered mall into campus-style senior housing that includes supportive and ancillary retail space. For the retail aspect, they will work with Cypress Equities, based out of Dallas, Texas. 

Grogan said the road district has, because of its "absurd tax levy resulting from its bloated budget," subjected the property owners within the district to the highest combined tax rate in the state. He said the mall pays town taxes and a supplemental tax rate of roughly $70 per $1,000, amounting to almost five times the tax bill of any town business aside from Target. 

"This amounts to nearly 9 percent of the property's assessed value each year," he added. 

"Even if we were to exclude the town's property tax rate, we would still be subject to the highest tax rate in the state. Even further, if you were to subtract the town tax rate from the Baker Hill Road District tax rate, we'd still be subject to the highest tax rate in the state." 

He said the road district has three purposes per its legislation: to facilitate the paying off the bonds that were utilized to construct the road, develop the mall property through its economic development powers, and maintain the road. 

"The bonds were entirely paid off in 2014, and the Baker Hill Road District will never be able to purchase the mall property to be able to develop it," he said. 

"This leaves just maintaining the road. Now, if anyone could tell me how maintaining the road costs $947,000 a year, I'd be all ears." 

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