The withdrawal of MassDevelopment from the stakeholder committee considering the future of Devens is deeply disturbing but not at all surprising.
In the years since the initial Devens effort, neither MassDevelopment nor the Devens Enterprise Commission has been forthcoming with fairly detailed and comprehensive annual reports showing income, expense, property tax abatement for companies now at Devens, and salaries of key personnel. Whether an entity is a corporation, nonprofit, or quasi-public operation, annual reports are necessary so we all know about the financial condition of the operation supported by underlying detail. I have never seen a detailed annual report issued by either organization.
The current MassDevelopment 2021 annual report is a lengthy PowerPoint rightfully extolling all of its accomplishments statewide, and a single page financial summary showing a net position of $436 million. Maybe detailed financial reports exist somewhere, but they are apparently not easily accessible to citizens of Massachusetts. The websites of these operations do a great sales pitch about the advantages of being a business on Devens, as they ought to. But Devens financials have had the sound of crickets for years.
Without readily accessible financial information about Devens and its operations, town stakeholders are faced with an unknown as to the scope and size of Devens, ultimately to become part of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley in the future. This lack of financial data essentially cripples any advance planning a town would be able to do. It’s time for a change.
Ben Myers
Westcott Road
