Issues & Analyses: Candidates In Contested Races Weigh In On Budget Priorities

By Art and Maura Keene

While listening to the League of Women Voters–Amherst (LWVA) forum for at-large candidates for Town Council a few weeks ago, it struck us that the candidates had substantial thoughts in response to the questions that were posed, but did not have sufficient time to develop those ideas.  And for us listeners, we were left with more ambiguity than clarity on the policy positions of the various candidates. So two weeks ago we began to offer some space in the Indy for the candidates for Town Council to lay out their positions on a few key issues facing the town and to allow the voters to see precisely where the candidates stand and how they differ from or agree with each other. (See also candidates responses on housing policy and on downtown economic development and on social justice.

We sent these questions to candidates in contested races only.  We suspect that those who are running unopposed would like to weigh in as well, and while our space and time were constrained this week, we have invited policy papers on specific issues from the unopposed. We recognize that candidates have been asked to fill out a lot of questionnaires going into this election and we think the voters are grateful that they were able to find the time to respond.  

We sent this invitation to all 12 candidates in contested races for Town Council, and this week 9 responded.  Candidates were asked to limit their responses to no more than 500 words but were encouraged to provide hyperlinks to supplemental materials.

This Week’s Question: Budget Priorities. What are the most significant budget challenges facing the town in both the long run and the short run, and what do you think the Town Council needs to do to address them, and to do so equitably?

The Candidates’ Responses

Candidates For At-Large Seats

Vira Douangmany Cage

We need Town Council to govern responsibly and equitably to meet the needs of our community. It is irresponsible to ask Amherst taxpayers to give up such a sizable amount of money ($17M) toward a $36.3M mammoth library project that does not even meet net zero standards as if our resources were unlimited and climate change can wait. It would be tragic to see a library mansion on fire looming over a dilapidated fire station with outdated fire suppression and cardiac equipment, a broken down ladder truck unable to timely and properly respond due to insufficient staffing and outdated equipment. Same with our soon to be new elementary school building project and department of public works. Residents and parents who send their loved ones to attend our schools and live in our community need assurance we have an adequately staffed and properly resourced community and first responder program. What’s the mantra, safety first?

It is unconscionable to ask taxpayers to contribute $17M towards a bloated library building project when that investment can be used to meet the goal of 250 units of affordable housing in five years, a goal originally set in 2013.

But do you know who is always first to the table?  Developers and investors who see a money grab to advance their interest by tweaking, relaxing, adding and deleting zoning bylaws that favor unfettered development currying and grooming friends and prospective friends on the council.

Immediately, the former Hickory Ridge Golf course come to mind when I think about our town spending and who is on the receiving end. It appears there are only a few developers who control the direction and fate of this town, including Mr. Barry Roberts.  How we are now acquiring this piece of property from Mr. Roberts is new news to me. A little bit of information, transparency and true community engagement in our finances and expenditures will go a long way. I am rethinking the suitability of a solar farm on this property. When residents were invited for a presentation and walk through, you would think we would have the area solar panels would be installed to be demarcated by well defined markers or yellow tape. No such luck.

Trust is key.  Nothing more undermines our democracy than deals hammered out at coffee shops in advance of any request for proposal entertained in Town Hall.  If that is not the case it sure does appear that way.

Finally, when I was on school committee at the bargaining table with educators, rising out of pocket costs for health insurance was a big source of contention, rightly so. We as a town need to also be concerned with OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) contributions as our faithful public employees retire from the system.

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Robert Greeney

Money – money – money me!

Where is the wealth of we?

Take time to look and see …

Constructing community

Connection and unity

Support and society

Commonwealth we

My primary purpose for running for the Town Council is to improve our collective sense of unity and community.  I believe if we work together with enhanced humility and respect we will be far more effective at addressing problems and meeting our communal needs.  The first step in this effort is insisting on the inclusion and participation of widest diversity of perspectives possible.  In my opinion we are not currently being adequately inclusive of divergent views.  Our priorities for allocating resources should reflect a process of broad participation and inclusion at all planning stages.  I think we all agree on the need for the four major capital projects.  The scope and style of each project needs to include the engagement and participation of diverse perspectives in the earliest planning stages and throughout.  Clearly this was the failure of the school building project and library renovation project.  The result is long, long divisive debate and delays.  Two of the four projects could have been completed by now had the process been widely inclusive in the early opening stages ten to fifteen years ago. 

Unlike other areas of town governance, budgeting and finance seems to be less controversial and divisive.  However, that process could benefit from the inclusion of more community members.  Two areas that should be examined more closely is infrastructure and social services.  Many community members would advocate for increased funding for infrastructure, such as roads, sidewalks, etc.  The same could be said for our current level of social services funding.  Both of these and perhaps other areas I am unaware of ought to be considered for a change in funding formula.

Stepping outside my comfort zone, I would suggest that we, the town, investigate unconventional means of bringing a greater degree of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) into our budgeting and finance considerations.  I would argue that our current model of using zoning to harness the energy of private profit making corporations to meet our housing and social equity agenda will forever be inadequate.  The primary resource of a major University village is the 14,000 unhoused students who will bring $200,000,000 – $300,000,000 per annum spending on housing alone into our area.  Through taxation we currently harvest about 5% of that resource.  Much more that that is harvested by absentee landlords and large finance and investment entities (hedge funds perhaps).  We need to figure out how to harvest or harness more of this vast resource.  Amherst might be a good place to begin to examine many of our, largely invisible, underlying assumptions about entrepreneurship, land ownership, capitalism and government.

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Mandi Jo.Hanneke
Budgeting is about tradeoffs. There are many constraints on our budgets – including legal limits to how much we can raise taxes, the residents’ desire for many, many services, and the need to use these funds for both our operating needs and our capital needs.

The annual operating budget to the Town must be for the benefit of all residents. These municipal funds allow Amherst to maintain necessary and desired high-quality services for its residents. Sometimes we focus too much on “maintaining level services”, which means that most of the increased revenue each year is consumed by increased salaries, thereby rarely permitting starting new programs or hiring new people. We should consider using zero-based budgeting every few years, an approach that involves developing a new budget from scratch, versus starting with the previous year’s budget and adjusting it as needed. The Town can then assess what funding is necessary to provide suitable services, contrasted with funding that would provide above adequate or below adequate services. If done right, the Town, the Council, and the Manager would be able to better understand and discuss the trade-offs necessary to add new programs or ramp-up current program, instead of always assuming “level-services” is actually what we want or need for each program.  For example, our fire department is stretched to a breaking point due to inadequate staffing. The Fire Chief states we need 10 new firefighters in the next 5 years just to ensure adequate staffing on a daily basis without unduly burdening current staff with forced additional shifts. Yet, with the current budgeting system, the Council never even gets to the conversation needed to deal with this issue.

In addition, we cannot continue to ignore the detrimental effect on our municipal finances that the large swaths of non-taxable land have. This is not just a problem created by the presence of three institutions of higher learning in our town. It was also created by our own municipal government purchasing so much land for open space, agricultural preservation, and recreation. We have to at least acknowledge that part of our inability to raise enough operating money is of our own doing and the choices we have made in constraining land use. I support diversifying the tax base by growing businesses, especially innovation hubs, like the Eruptor Lab.

Since the non-taxable institutional land does contribute to this issue, we must prioritize the negotiation of strategic partnership agreements with these higher-education institutions, using it as one of the ways we evaluate the Manager’s performance. In these agreements, I would like to see:

• Fair compensation for ambulance and fire services;
• Fair compensation for K-12 education services provided to students living in tax-exempt housing;
• Cooperation between police departments, or if an institution doesn’t have police, fair compensation for public safety services;
• Payments equal to the occupancy fee that would be imposed under the local bylaw if Hotel UMass were privately owned and operated; and
• Agreements regarding evening and weekend use of institutional parking lots by residents.
  
  

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Vincent O’Connor
The Council should focus on four areas – revenue, capital spending, the use of one-time federal monies, and operating budget priorities.

Revenue. The Council should focus on generating additional municipal income without increasing demand for services. There are two obvious sources – the two elephants in the municipal budget room: PILOTs (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) from Amherst College, and from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – to account for the University’s impact on the city.

Amherst College. The council and the school committee ought to appoint a joint committee of elected officials to negotiate a long-term agreement for an unrestricted annual $1,000,000+ PILOT payment by Amherst College to the city and its school districts. Amherst College properties take up a good portion of Amherst Center, and those properties were taxable until the 1980’s, when the College bought out all its fraternities, converted them to dormitories, and over a period of five years removed millions of dollars of hitherto taxable properties from the tax rolls.

If negotiations with Amherst College do not succeed, the (1) townspeople ought to fund a non-governmental organizing campaign directed at Amherst College alums, faculty, staff and students to secure a meaningful payment in lieu of taxes from the College, or, (2) the council could request special legislation, that would allow the city to tax all Amherst College property at a percentage of its assessed value. It is time for this wealthy, elite college to resume making a meaningful financial contribution to the municipality in which it lives.

UMass. The University’s impact, and that of other Commonwealth colleges and University system campuses, is quite different from that of state forests or parks. There should be a special state budget PILOT appropriation to account for those differences – commuter transportation impact, 7-month versus 12-month business development, etc. – by separately reimbursing cities and towns that host the Commonwealth’s many state college and university campuses.

Capital Spending. Vote No! on the Library project. Then lobby the Council to designate the Fort River School Project as its top capital spending priority. Allocate one-time federal monies wisely.

One-Time Federal Monies. The Council should develop a list of stand-alone capital projects – the Pelham water treatment plant, a South Amherst Fire/EMS station, a scaled-down Jones Library repair, etc. – that could be accomplished independently of other capital budget components. Another focus could be projects that would reduce property taxes or fees – the water treatment plant replacement, or that impact private expenses – reductions in fire insurance premiums for South Amherst residents, businesses and institutions resulting from a long-awaited South Amherst Fire/EMS Station.

Operating Budget Priorities. Our first priority must be to protect school budgets from cuts that impact children from families who have no other educational alternatives. Second, transform the Police Department. Next, increase staffing to improve quality of life outcomes – 1) Public Health coordination re universal single-payer health care and ending the “War on Drugs” advocacy, and, 2) increase Fire/EMS staffing. Finally, improve Public Works’ ability to maintain our physical infrastructure.

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Ellisha Walker

The Town currently has commitments to take on multiple large capital spending projects in the near future including but not limited to the Elementary school building project, the library, the Department of Public Works and a Fire Station; all of which are in need of safe sustainable buildings and infrastructure.  

The town must engage the community using various methods of outreach in order to establish project priorities. Prioritizing these projects will allow the Town to more strategically approach the budget process and allow us to monitor borrowing and spending within the capital budget to ensure realistic and sustainable planning. 

The Town must engage the community in understanding the budget process and impacts to both renters and homeowners. An informational process must occur in order to gain meaningful input into planning and decision making for Town projects. We must explain the relationship between the decisions the public is being asked to weigh in on and the impacts these decisions can have on the operating budget and local property taxes both immediately and in the years to come.

The council should encourage the finance committee to look at ways in which they can orchestrate the budget to result in more reasonable property tax rates to prevent homeowners from experiencing increased financial burdens due to rising property taxes, as well acknowledge how this issue may prevent Amherst from appealing to first time home buyers and homebuyers in general. I believe the budget process needs to be informed by the needs of the community and that the community must have access to the knowledge and resources to accurately advocate for their needs

As a Town councilor, I would seek to gather information from the community, continue to educate the community about the budget process, and engage in authentic discussion with community members about balancing budget priorities. By creating opportunities for inclusion and inquiry-based solutions to new and old issues in our growing and diverse town, we are inviting the community to identify where funding should be allocated.

The community holds expertise within their experiences living in this town and we must create accessible avenues for their input and experiences to influence the decisions that we make. This will reassure the council that we are directly investing in what the community indicates will contribute to their health, well-being, and successes.

Town officials should prioritize:

– establishing a two-way dialog or feedback loop with the community to make sure that they not only understand the impacts of new policies, bylaws, and programs in the community; but that they are an integral part of its formation. 

-That we are putting funding behind our priorities 

-That we are transparent, honest, and clear about our intentions. 

-That we seek to increase public participation by eliminating barriers to inclusion, access to language supports, technology and information.  

-That we strive to be at the forefront of change and, 

-That we continue to find ways to prosper not only financially but in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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Candidates For Council In District 3

George Ryan

Building a 21^st Century elementary school, replacing and relocating the Central Fire Station, and getting our Public Works Department into suitable quarters so that they can do their jobs safely and professionally are our highest priorities.  But to accomplish this will require fiscal discipline and that means following the Financial Plan that the Town Manager has outlined to the Council. That financial plan (“Financing the Future”) can be found here.  At the heart of this plan is adopting funding caps for each of the four major capital projects, funding of capital at 10.5% of the levy for the next ten years, the use of $4.6M of reserves, and taxpayer approval of a debt exclusion for the new elementary school.  The Council needs to exercise fiscal discipline and resist committing to operating budget expenditures which do not have dedicated and reliable revenue streams.  Grant funding cannot support long term operating expenditures.  As has been true in the past so it is true today:  the greatest budgetary challenge for this Town involves learning how to live within its means while at the same time trying to realize its goals of a more just, diverse, and equitable community.  Looking beyond the immediate priority of the four capital projects the Town faces the continuing challenge of how to fund its long term employee post-employment benefits, replacing/upgrading our basic infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, sidewalks), a Senior Center, a Youth Center, and an upgrade to our deteriorating athletic fields.  There is the expectation that the consolidation of two elementary schools into one will bring real cost savings in an area of the budget that historically represents 60% of our operating costs. The repurposing of at least one of the school buildings may also help us address the need for a Senior Center and/or a Youth Center.  We will need to be creative, we will need to work together, and we will need to compromise. No one will get everything they want but if we work together we can pass on what we have inherited to the next generation on a secure and sound foundation.  But it will not be easy. And the first step has nothing to do with budgets or fiscal matters – it has to do with treating each other with respect and refusing to demonize or vilify those with whom we disagree.  Given the tenor of this campaign I would say that is the one area I am most pessimistic about.  I hope I will be proven wrong.    

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Dorothy Pam

The Town of Amherst’s Operating Budget is heavily reliant on our property taxes since we lack a big business or manufacturing base. This makes for tight budgeting and facing many tough choices. We have to pick which grants to apply for carefully, since they usually require matching funds and considerable additional expenses by the Town. Kendrick Park is a delightful addition to our Town Center, but it required large expenses. Yet to be completed are changes in roads, sidewalks, and parking to adjust to the design, as well as the considerable expense of a safe public restroom.

Another serious consideration is whether or not the Town will be able to offer some respite for elderly homeowners on fixed incomes who cannot keep up with the rising property taxes. A tax abatement program seems more fair than the present policy that allows some seniors to work off a portion of their property tax by doing tasks at Town Hall.

Some look to solve all problems with an open door policy to developers who want to build expensive rental units for students. But this policy does not advance the making of a strong and inclusive town. Our efforts should be on finding ways to make more affordable and attainable opportunities for home ownership, especially for BIPOC residents who have been disproportionately excluded from the opportunities to own a home. A strong town is built on year-round residents who have a stake in the success of the town.

We must look into the question of adequate town staff. The Town Manager has had to ask a lot, perhaps too much, of many staff members because of the volume of work. This may have played a role in the large number of people who have quit or decided to retire. Add to this the fact that many of our Town workers are very skilled and regularly move on to higher paying positions in other towns. New people have to be hired and enough money allocated for competitive salaries and raises as well as the expenses of benefits and health insurance. A careful examination must be made to ascertain if some departments are short staffed and budgets must be increased.

Because of COVID and the damage done to many economies, funds are coming from Washington DC and from Boston. The benefits of the large grants coming must be balanced with the understanding that they are temporary and most likely will not be renewed. The challenge is to do long range planning which takes these difficult facts into account and to make the correct choices now.

No discussion of financial challenges to the town can be complete without a discussion of the four capital projects. Careful planning over the past few years has put the Town of Amherst in an excellent borrowing position. Great care must be taken to keep the building plans for the Department of Public Works and the Fire Department spartan, strong, well designed, energy efficient, worker centered, but not grandiose. The aim is to build something that will work as it should and will last a long time. The new school building is a very complex undertaking, balancing the goals and desires of the school professionals, the School Committee, the State of Massachusetts Board of Education– which has many strictures for how its contribution is used–and the taxpayer funds necessary to complete the building. This time the new school must be one that serves the students and the teachers as a great learning environment where all students have a chance to succeed. The school must be up to date in terms of its pedagogical technology and its energy efficiency. Keeping the correct balance in its budget will be a great challenge. A  resilient town will have affordable and attainable housing for families and workers, a revitalized down town with many small businesses and attractive shops, green spaces, wide sidewalks where people shop, eat, and enjoy the arts and a strong tax base to provide the money for the services that keep it running smoothly. The Town’s financial plans are to this end, making the dream possible.

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Jennifer Taub

Funding the four capital projects (new school, new fire station, Jones Library expansion/renovation, and new DPW facility), as well as the Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the CRESS program, and BIPOC Youth Center serving all Amherst children and adolescents – comprise a major part of the budgetary challenges confronting the incoming Council. (At the risk of stating the obvious, first and foremost, Town government must ensure the smooth and uninterrupted delivery of basic services – those we take for granted and barely notice until their disruption.) 

How to do this?  – Amherst must build more year-round housing (apartments, condominiums, and single-family homes) for families and other year-round residents. We need children for our schools and more homeowners to pay property taxes (homeowners, not developers of high-end student apartments, pay the much larger portion of property taxes). Amherst’s year-round population declined from 2010 to 2020 – this trend must be reversed if we are to remain a viable, functioning town.

We need to incentivize businesses to locate in our downtown in order to maintain a 12-month — not a 6-8 month — economy. If we want people to move to Amherst and pay our high taxes, we must be able to offer a thriving, inviting Town center and top-notch K-12 schools.

I would also advocate for increased payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) for UMass and, especially, Amherst College. Amherst College has one of the highest endowments per student in the country and, in the past year, had record returns on its investment. Surely, it can increase its financial contribution to the town that shares its name. A recent Boston Globe article reported on Colby College’s investment in Waterville, ME, which has paid huge dividends for both the town and the school.

From what I understand, a consultant report determined that the best location for the new fire station is the current DPW building. If so, then building a new fire station can’t happen until a new DPW location is secured, which has proven endlessly challenging. Since a new fire station is a top priority – we can no longer “kick that can” down the road. My vote would be to disentangle the fire station and DPW locations if that is proving an obstacle to building the new fire station.

The Council can identify and formulate new ideas, strategies, and financial resources to help the town achieve its climate action goals; increase the availability of affordable housing; implement the CRESS program; advocate for increased State revenues to support our schools; and help fund our capital projects. Some strategies could include:

• Leveraging state stimulus funds to help support staffing of Town departments.
• Requesting information on comparable staffing levels in similar neighboring towns to evaluate if departments are adequately staffed.
• Advocating for State legislation that improves local taxation options, increases aid to Amherst, and helps offset mandated costs.
• Ensuring that the Council receives a comprehensive listing of all Town infrastructure needs over a 5-year period and devising a selection process that reflects resident priorities.
  
  

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Candidates For Council In District 4

Pamela Rooney

The Town has significant financial challenges facing it. We have many millions in capital needs backlog – building maintenance, renovation, or replacement; equipment; roads & sidewalks; etc. The Town works toward allocating 10% of the property tax levy for such capital work but hasn’t yet achieved that. Next year’s target is for 10.5%, larger than ever, to afford debt service on major capital projects, as well as to address a small portion of that backlog. This increased percentage for the Capital Improvement Program means less money is available for operating budgets of all town departments in the short term. Stringent oversight of capital projects – to ensure that project costs don’t go over budget – will be critical, and we should continue to pursue grants and state funds to help pay for other capital improvements, like water and sewer projects.

I would a support a process to prioritize which capital projects should be addressed first, based on input from town residents. Community Preservation Act funds should also be considered – for eligible projects like the Special Collections portion of the Jones Library project.

The majority of the Town’s budget is for salaries and benefits. I would support an audit of staffing across departments to help identify potential efficiencies, for example in the schools where student numbers are dropping, and police department. Let’s also explore more PILOT opportunities with UMass and Amherst College.

Encouraging new growth that enhances the Town’s character and upholds multiple Master Plan goals of density that strengthens stable neighborhoods and preserves historic structures, can bring in new revenue to supplement the property tax levy. This will depend heavily on a thoughtful and visionary Planning Board in concert with strong design guidelines

Regarding equitable use of resources, the funding of Community Responders (CRESS), and Reparations and Reconciliation, will be on the table for the Council in 2022. The CRESS Program should be funded sufficiently to become established and successful and help transition safety responses toward the ever-increasing need for mental health interventions.

I support the June 2021 proposal by Town Manager for the creation of a special purpose Reparations Stabilization Fund, which the Town proposes to start up with $210,000 from free cash in FY22. It could be managed similarly to how CPAC funds are collected and distributed and have a committee to develop recommendations for fund use. Another method would be management like the Jones Library endowment where funds are invested, and an annual percentage is drawn off to fund reparation projects and programs. The Town Manager suggested that perhaps free cash over 5% of budget could become a revenue stream for this fund.

To ensure the $12M of federal American Rescue Plan monies can be efficiently dispersed, we need an advisory group to review guidance and create a process for considering proposals and recommending awards. Financial support of Elderly Services health and wellness facilities should be on the table, as well as improvements to facilities that serve a broad spectrum of the community – for access and ventilation. Replacement of ancient fire trucks can go on my list as well.