— News about Quincy Massachusetts from Quincy Quarry News

“Look, it’s a great deal for locals …”
A Quincy Quarry News exclusive file photo

Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch scored himself an extensive run of column inches in the local weekly tabloid with a puff piece to roll out his plans to take yet another piece of local property.

Quincy Quarry has long been aware of this plan, however, it has sat tight on this information as even its ever-growing legions of loyal readers might find such implausible if the Quarry were to break the story.

In any event, the latest planned land taking by Quincy’s rapacious land taker Mayor Koch is to take Wollaston Beach away from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Looking buffish near the beach. Spanx for men helps. That and dressing in dark sweats.
Image via Facebook

No idea if the mayor is also planning to hit Wolly Beach for swimming and/or some sunbathing, however.

In any event, such land transfers can and do occasionally happen as well as that Wollaston beach was inexplicably rated recently as the second best beach in Massachusetts, success for this latest koched-up land grab looks unlikely.

While such occasional land transfers from the state to a municipality often entail no purchase price — per se anyway, the state all but invariably insists that any municipality seeking state land take on servicing any outstanding debt taken on by the state to pay for maintenance and renovation projects on the property sought.

Mayor Koch, however, has long not been willing to take on any debt service tied to Wollaston Beach and Quincy Shore Drive along it even if on his watch he has otherwise seen local taxpayers stuck with taking on the obligation for over a billion dollars in local municipal debt with many hundreds of millions more yet in the way of local municipal debt in the pipeline.

A sunrise at Wollaston Beach
A MadTy Photography image

Additionally, such a transfer would cost local taxpayers surely a couple to several million dollars a year in maintenance costs.

Further, the City of Quincy taking Wollaston Beach and at least some of Quincy Shore Drive would put local taxpayers on the hook to cover the cost of future major makeovers and storm damage repairs, expenses which the state now covers even if the dollars are essentially locally paid state tax revenue coming back around to applications within Quincy.

“Friends, Romans, Kochonuts, lend me your checkbooks!”
Image via Facebook

Unclear, however, is if local residents are sufficiently unhappy with the state’s level of care of Wollaston Beach and the far better maintained than the average local street run of road that is Quincy Shore Drive to be willing take on the cost of maintaining these now state-owned and operated properties.

Specifically, figure on every million dollar increase in City of Quincy spending incurred by taking control of Wollaston Beach and Quincy Shore Drive working out to a $25 increase on a Quincy homeowner’s property tax bill on the local average $600,000 assessed value residence or a 0.4% increase per million for any and all local homeowners.

Piled high …
Image via the San Jose Mercury News

But sure, why not talk up taking Wollaston Beach even if it ain’t likely going to happen absent the considerable annual local expenses needed to see such a land taking happen.

After all, it is campaign season and thus prime time for this short of bovine byproduct to be shoveled.

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