Finance Committee Shows Little Support for More Money for Schools

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Finance Committee, March 18, 2025

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Cathy Schoen (Chair, District 1), Bob Hegner (District 5), Andy Steinberg and Mandi Jo Hanneke (at large). Tom Porter and Bernie Kubiak (Nonvoting Resident members)

Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager), Dave Ziomek (Assistant Town Manager), Melissa Zawadzki (Finance Director), and Holly Drake (Comptroller)

Finance Committee Resistant to Changing Budget Guidelines to Benefit the Schools
Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier’s (District 5) proposal to give the regional and elementary schools a greater percentage increase than municipal offices and the library for next year’s budget, which she introduced at the March 10 Town Council meeting, got a chilly reception at the March 18 Finance Committee meeting. 

According to the approved budget guidelines, which Devlin Gauthier voted for when they came before the full council, gave equal percentage increases to the municipal services budget, the library, the elementary schools, and the regional schools. As of the Town Manager’s latest projections, this increase was to be four percent across the board. The regional schools did have the extra $350,000 in ARPA money awarded to them last year added to their base budget for the FY2026 increase, but, even with that, they are facing a $1.3 million deficit. On March 14, the Regional School Committee (RSC) voted to recommend a budget with a 5.13% increase that reduced the shortfall to $812,000 and restored at least six student-facing positions. The Amherst elementary schools are also facing a deficit of over $1 million if held to a four percent increase. The budget hearing for the elementary schools is scheduled for March 20, with the school committee to vote on a budget the following week.

Bob Hegner stated that last year’s Finance Committee worked hard over six or seven meetings to come to a consensus regarding the budget guidelines passed in December, and he did not want to reopen the discussion. However, Devlin Gauthier said that the town now has a better picture of what the needs are and that it is much clearer what the negative impacts will be of limiting the increase in the schools’ budgets to four percent..

Finance Director Melissa Zawadzki reminded the committee that changes in allocation levels would change the base on which subsequent years’ budgets are determined. She said the municipal services are also struggling to close a projected $500,000 budget gap in light of rising costs, obligations to employees, health insurance, and deferred maintenance. “I’m glad that the school has been very vocal and communicated well their hardships, and maybe we should do a better job of communicating ours in other areas, but I would say that you don’t have a full picture of how difficult this year is,” she said. 

Andy Steinberg noted that he received a letter sent to library supporters from Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry that the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners indicated that cuts in the federal budget could affect the services libraries can provide. He felt that the library should be advised about recommended budget changes. He also wanted to know specifics about reductions in town services that would be necessitated by the projected budget shortfall before further cutting the town services budget. 

Steinberg said that changes in government policies creating more tax cuts for the wealthy might mean a discontinuation of  tax deductions for interest paid on municipal bonds, which would greatly hinder the ability of the town to finance projects through the sale of bonds. Also, reimbursements for energy-saving measures for the new elementary school (through the Inflation Reduction Act) that the town is counting on may also be in jeopardy. All these factors, he maintained, must be taken into account before adjusting the budget guidelines.

Cathy Schoen said that the only way she would consider raising the money allocated to the schools would be to find that money without decreasing the proposed municipal budget. She suggested freezing the CRESS program by not filling its two vacancies and delaying the hiring of more inspectors to implement the new residential rental inspection program. She also suggested devoting less than 10.5% of the budget to capital expenses for this year only.

Zawadzki countered these suggestions, pointing out that the town would obtain income from the rental inspections, as it does from the ambulance services provided by the four additional fire/EMS personnel. Although neither program is likely to fully pay for itself, the savings would not be great. Also, reducing the amount allocated to capital expenses, she said, would disrupt the plan to build a new fire station and DPW within a reasonable amount of time.

Mandi Jo Hanneke also wanted to know more about the increased costs of the municipal budget and library in order to compare their needs to the needs of the schools. She pointed out that the elementary schools might need fewer positions when the new school is finished in Fall 2026 and there are only two elementary schools. The four towns in the regional school system, she said, need to move closer to the regional agreement without having Amherst pay more than its fair share every year.

Finance Committee Wedded to Equal Increases Across Budget Areas
Resident member Bernie Kubiak spoke for keeping equal allocations. He stated, “My experience with four other towns that would go into town meetings or budget meetings with feuding departments, reinforces the logic of equal percentages. Amherst is the only town I know of that’s practiced that. I think once you abandon that principle of equal distribution, you’re going to find yourself feuding, not just next year but off well into the future. We can’t go to the Commonwealth and say we have a crisis in education funding, but we’re going to fix it by cutting other stuff. That’s not a fix.” As to the multi-million-dollar budget surplus that Amherst has had over the past few years and school supporters have advocated for allotting to the schools, Kubiak said, “We will be very happy that we have some free cash to patch some holes in federal funding, that makes up 20 to 25% of the commonwealth’s budget.”

The practice of allocating equal increases to each functional area of town government was also supported by Hanneke and Steinberg.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman stated, “I think this is a really important conversation to have, so I really appreciate Ana [Devlin Gauthier] motivating it. I do not underestimate what the challenges are that the school district has and I think you have to multiply it by two, because if the regional school district says their needs are 6.5%, you’re likely to hear that from the elementary schools as well. It’s important to recognize the scale of the challenge that we’re trying to address. The council are the fiscal stewards of the community. You set the long-range goals. The stability that the town has had and the reputation for strong finances is really based on this sort of non-combat atmosphere. When we get new dollars, it is distributed fairly. That does move us away from the win-lose kind of dynamic. If you change that dynamic, I think every conversation from here to the rest of our lives is going to be really different. It’s going to be similar to what happens in many other communities. That’s why Amherst is unique. This town has built a culture of working together, and that’s very fragile right now. We have to think how we’re going to conduct ourselves from now on. People don’t forget these things.” He added that the budgeted cost of living increases for the union contracts up for negotiation this year is two percent, which he noted will not cover the increase in health insurance copays and deductibles.. 

Devlin Gauthier Defends Her Request for Increased School Funding
Devlin Gauthier refuted the argument that eliminating across-the-board increases would cause infighting between town departments, saying  that that’s what is happening now with the debate over school funding. She pointed out that the library may lose some federal funding, but if the federal Department of Education closes, the state will lose $2 billion in funds for public schools. 

She stated, “I don’t see that there is an inflated need this year that’s going to go away next year, so the changes I’m pitching for would be to the base. We need a new base. I do not believe our current base is equitable. The schools are hitting the insurance numbers, too. We can’t keep acting like we’re this completely separate entity navigating these massive challenges. I don’t understand why we need to sacrifice our students and teachers every year to prove to the state that we have a problem. We should try to fix what we can.” She also noted that the charter specifies that the Budget Coordinating Committee, which has representatives from the town staff, the Town Council, the schools, and the library, is in charge of long-range financial planning, not the council alone or the Finance Committee.

The discussion on increased funding for the schools will continue at the Town Council meeting on Monday, March 24. The Finance Committee will hold a discussion of the regional school budget on April 1. Hanneke suggested that the committee add a meeting on March 25, and the rest of the committee agreed. The Town Council must approve the regional budget prior to the annual town meetings of Leverett, Shutesbury, and Pelham that occur in late April and May. The elementary school budget will be approved with the rest of the budget before June 30, so the Finance Committee will discuss it in May.