At their last meeting, the Framingham Board of Selectmen decided to pass a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) program which will ask social service agencies to compensate the town for services rendered. In my view, this is an ill conceived plan. Kudos should go to Selectman John Stasik for having the courage and honesty to cast the only dissenting vote.

In all of the discussions about the PILOT program, we always overlook the tremendous work of social service agencies in our towns. In my church, we rely on social service agencies to assist parishioners and people in our community in a variety of ways. Our work in the church would be so much harder and expensive without the services these agencies render.

The PILOT program represents poor stewardship of our tax dollars. This PILOT program will be cumbersome to administer. Because of its voluntary nature, the town's PILOT program is not likely to generate revenue. Moreover, it will only succeed in pitting social service agencies against each other as we debate how to impartially administer this tax. The PILOT program potentially sets the stage for yet another costly lawsuit the town can ill afford.

PILOT is based on the dubious premise that not-for-profits are a burden on our community. What would we do if they were not there? For instance, is our school system really willing to pick up the cost for services which Wayside provides to our youth? Is the town willing to open and staff a youth drop in center for adolescent boys instead of having the Boy Scouts fill this need? Will the town library and jail become the new place for fragile people who would be better served in a group home with professional case management? Do police officers and librarians now become full time social workers? How do you practically do the accounting to reflect what the town and what the agencies provide?

Instead of the town spending precious staff time figuring out how to get the Boy Scouts and SMOC to pay their: "fair share," more time should be spent fostering a spirit of cooperation between the town and agencies where social and economic challenger can creatively be addressed.

Instead of picking on individual groups, the town should be directly lobbying the Commonwealth for increased assistance for urban centers.

Moreover, if we are really worried about tax revenue, the town should be working night and day to develop planning and zoning rules and an aggressive economic development plan to attract new business. This proactive approach to economic development would be a better use of our tax payer's money, than spending limited town resources on a plan to squeeze social service agencies for money the town is unlikely to receive.

Peter Cook, is senior minister, The Plymouth Church in Framingham, United Church of Christ.