EASTHAMPTON — The city is considering whether to pitch in $25,000 toward restoration of the Hampshire County Courthouse in Northampton, a proposal that is drawing criticism from the mayor and other officials.

The $4 million restoration and preservation project under the direction of the Hampshire Council of Governments is being funded through a combination of state grants and municipal money. The Council has spent the last several years asking 20 municipalities in the county for a combined $1.3 million.

For Easthampton, the Council is asking for $135,365 in Community Preservation Act funds — 10 percent of the total project cost. On April 20, the city’s CPA Committee approved a much smaller amount of $25,000 by a 6-2 vote. The City Council on Wednesday moved the item to Finance Subcommittee for further discussion. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled for the May 17 City Council meeting.

Mayor Karen Cadieux opposes using Easthampton CPA funds to assist the project. She said many residents oppose the idea as well.

“I have an obligation to the taxpayers of the city,” Cadieux said in an email Wednesday. “And I do not believe that when our residents generously voted in the Community Preservation Act at the full 3 percent, they ever expected funds to be used for any community other than Easthampton.”

The courthouse on 99 Main Road in Northampton has been the county seat since 1654 and the site of witch trials in the 1700s and the Shays’ Rebellion protests in 1786. The roughly 130-year-old building is deteriorating.

In October, Executive Director Todd Ford led lawmakers on a tour of the courthouse center tower, which is rapidly deteriorating. He said not only the building an eyesore, but it poses a public safety risk. During the tour, Ford held up items that had fallen from the roof — a 2-foot fragment of lead flashing, a broken-off piece of a weather vane and several shingles.

As of November, $4 million from a state capital bond has been secured toward the project, but only $500,000 of that sum had been released by the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance. The funds allowed completion of the first stage of the four-phase plan — restoration of the courthouse steps and the building’s portico roofs.

Arguments for, against

Ryan Barry, a CPA committee member who opposed funding the project, said he spoke with friends and neighbors in Easthampton who agree with him. Barry said he thinks residents who voted for the CPA did not anticipate funding a project in Northampton.

Committee member Scott Cavanaugh also voted “no.” While the courthouse has historical significance, he said at the committee’s April meeting that the funding process is flawed.

Cavanaugh is also concerned that other communities might benefit from a revitalized courthouse even though they did not contribute municipal funds toward the project.

“I want this to happen, I just don’t think this is the way it should happen,” he said.

On the other hand, committee member Greg Rolland said at the April meeting that he sees the project as a “once in a generation ask.”

Rolland said $25,000 from Easthampton breaks down to about $2 for every taxpayer. He’s said that’s not a big amount considering the significant renovation of the building that has served the county for decades.

Other committee members said the courthouse is a significant project that the city should contribute some amount to. The committee originally discussed a larger amount, but reduced the amount in hopes it would pass through the City Council.

Of the nine Hampshire County communities that have adopted the CPA, Northampton has awarded $200,000 — $100,000 each in 2012 and 2017. Goshen funded $8,000 in 2014, about 90 percent of the $8,887 requested by the Council. Hadley and Hatfield have both recommended $10,000 to Town Meeting.

Amherst denied the Council’s requested funding $318,906 and rejected a similar request about five years ago. Town officials said CPA money should be used only for buildings and sites in Amherst.

In Southampton, the town’s Community Preservation Committee chairwoman Virginia Ahart said the council’s request of $48,840 is off the table for the time being because the town is committed to other projects.

“We just don’t feel at this point that we can support it,” Ahart said.

Ford said he’s written letters to municipalities that have not adopted the CPA requesting funding, but there hasn’t been an “aggressive push.”

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