June 26, 2008
Bloomberg News on Massachusetts Property Taxes
"Boston Suburb's `Taj Mahal' Brings Ban on Luxury High Schools"
By Michael McDonald
A $200 million high school scheduled to open in 2010 in the Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts, will be the state's most expensive. It may also be the last of its kind.
The 413,000-square-foot (33,368 square-meter) Newton North High, featuring an arts complex and an athletic wing with swimming pool and climbing wall, has become a symbol of excess in Massachusetts, where households bear the country's eighth-highest property-tax burden, according to the Washington-based Tax Foundation.
The project's estimated cost of $478 a square foot has doubled since Newton Mayor David Cohen proposed it in 2003. The price jump sparked a taxpayer revolt that kept him from seeking a fourth term next year. Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who called the building the ``Taj Mahal,'' wants to limit the price for future state-subsidized schools, including one proposed by the neighboring town of Wellesley, to $100 million.
``Someone has to say enough is enough, that we can't afford it,'' said Cahill, a 49-year-old Democrat. He is chairman of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, created in 2004 to manage finance and construction statewide. ``It's taxpayers' money we're spending here.''
