Select Board Approves Lower Solar PILOT Payments

Select Board · Meeting of July 28, 2026

Northfield Select Board authorizes lower solar tax payments after Blue Wave balks at original terms. Chair Barbara Jacque will sign revised Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreements with BWC Merriam Brook LLC and BWC Pine Meadow Brook LLC at $12,000 per megawatt direct current, down from $15,000 approved two weeks earlier, a loss Assessor Beth Walker put at roughly $30,000 a year. Clerk Shane Duclos called the reversal a "bait and switch," though Walker said the town "were not going lower than 12." The board, with only three of five members present, also approved a full slate of revised Fire Department job descriptions and completed Standard Operating Guidelines, tabled a new "auxiliary member" position pending legal review, heard a clean fiscal year 2025 audit from Town Administrator Andrea Llamas, and appointed Mark Geoffroy, Kristin Kellom Damon and Brian Sodders to three town committees.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,054 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of July 28, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.