Shutesbury officials advocate for equitable treatment of Quabbin region

SHUTESBURY — Shutesbury officials are calling for more equitable treatment of so-called Quabbin communities by the state, initiatives that are receiving support from Gov. Maura Healey’s environmental bond bill.

The Select Board on Tuesday voted to endorse sending a letter that calls for better regional representation on the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority board, establishment of a Quabbin Host Community Trust Fund and reconfiguration of payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT payments, to reflect the value the Boston region receives from stewardship of the land surrounding the Quabbin.

While the town is one of about a dozen communities that is doing this advocacy in assorted ways, state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, said in an interview that previous work is already paying off.

The environmental bond bill, Comerford said, has an additional $50,000 in PILOT payments in both 2027 and 2028 for the Quabbin watershed communities, what Healey has termed a down payment, and the convening of a PILOT study commission, which Comerford said could be a game changer, because these towns have been seriously shortchanged for so long.

“These are big victories for western Massachusetts and the North Quabbin, and shows the governor is listening,” Comerford said.

Comerford said it is the Quabbin Watershed Stewards Group that is organizing the next step in its growth and showing a united watershed. This constituent-led work, she said, is quite a testament to the stress and breaking points for communities.

“The real beauty is in the diversity of their calls to action,” Comerford said.

In Shutesbury, Select Board member Eric Stocker said the general feeling for the communities that are stewards of the Quabbin is they receive insufficient financial support and don’t have enough say in its oversight.

“We basically take all of our pristine water and send it to Boston, and they pay virtually nothing for it,” Stocker said.

Select Board member Rita Farrell said the resolution is about getting a fair share of financial support for Shutesbury and having a voice, noting that even a small increase in water rates would benefit the town for its protecting millions upon millions of gallons of water by preserving nearby land from development.

The Select Board also will consider having the topic as a warrant article at annual Town Meeting. Other communities will have other strategies to get their say.

Various other actions also are taking place at the local level.

In January, the Quabbin Watershed Stewards, which includes the Pelham Select Board and a former Pelham Planning Board member, authored an open letter to the people of eastern Massachusetts informing them that while they benefit from the presence of the Quabbin, it is the communities that surround the body of water — created in the 1930s on top of four lost towns — that are paying a price.

The Quabbin provides roughly 200 million gallons to the Boston area each day.

Comerford and Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown, on Feb. 9 sent a letter to Fred Laskey, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, and Rebecca Tepper, who chairs the MWRA board, reaffirming their advocacy for the Quabbin watershed and regional equity that is included in legislative bills they have filed.

That communication references the possibility of both the Quabbin Host Community Trust Fund and increased Quabbin watershed representation on the MWRA board, as well as the $50,000 payment to watershed municipalities in 2027 and 2028 in the envirionmental bond bill that the legislators say would represent “an important first step to recognize that the economies of these municipalities have been throttled and that their current recompense is unjust relative to their enormous sacrifice and stewardship.”

The MWRA is the public authority established by the Legislature in 1984 to provide wholesale water and sewer services to both people and more than 5,500 large industrial users in 61 metropolitan Boston communities.

The letter concludes by asking “that MWRA demonstrate that it values this partnership by supporting our very reasonable requests, described above.” In addition, with Laskey set to retire, “we also ask that you include a minimum of three representatives from the watershed on the hiring committee for the new MWRA executive director.”

“We’ve been transparent and fully engaging MWRA throughout the entirety of this bill development,” Comerford said.

Comerford said there is growing awareness inside the Route 128 corridor of what these communities need, adding that it’s been “quite thrilling” to see a statewide conversation emerge.

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