Audit Yields High Praise For The Town With A Few Cautionary Words

Report On The Amherst Finance Committee Meeting, February 15, 2022

This meeting was held on Zoom. The recording can be found here for the next few days. The most recent posted minutes are from December 7, 2021. The most recent video recordings posted are January 19, 2022.

Present
Town Councilors: Andy Steinberg (Chair) and Ellisha Walker (at large); Cathy Schoen and Michele Miller (District 1); Lynn Griesemer (District 2) 

Finance Committee Non-voting Members: Robert Hegner, Matt Holloway, Bernie Kubiak

Staff: Sean Mangano (finance director); Sonia Aldrich (comptroller)

Auditor Tanya Campbell, Melanson Auditors

The town was given high praise from auditor Tanya Campbell of Melanson, who has done the audits for the town for several years. Next year she will be replaced by a highly experienced auditor who is new to Amherst’s finances. She said the town is in good financial shape, identifying numerous pockets of funds, such as the stabilization fund and the general reserves, with good financial practices in place. Among other compliments, she praised the town’s strategy of setting aside money to be used for capital projects.

She did, however, caution the school committee about a failure to complete some required paperwork related to funds for emergencies. Sean Mangano said that systems have now been put in place to make sure that the schools “are following all the steps, and we also are going to be having trainings with them, and ongoing reviews with them…[and] we’ll work jointly with them to make sure there are no further issues.” 

Campbell also spoke briefly about a “deficiency in the town’s internal control structure…that is so great that material misstatement could occur, and nobody would have any idea what was going on.” A few seconds later, however, she described it from a different perspective and said it is just something worth mentioning. 

“This is just an outstanding report. It should give everybody a great deal of security and assurance that our funds are being handled properly.”

Bernie Kubiak, Finance Committee

Responding to Campbell’s high praise, for the most part, of the town’s financial practices and financial condition, Mangano refused to take much credit. “That’s all Sonia [Aldrich],” he said. Bernie Kubiak echoed that and added, “This is just an outstanding report. It should give everybody a great deal of security and assurance that our funds are being handled properly.” Chair Andy Steinberg said that the committee will come up with “some sort of report [to bring to] Town Council.”

Later, there was a short discussion of the high costs of health insurance and pensions, which Mangano explained as “sort of our version of Social Security, because we’re are not eligible for Social Security through [our employment by the town].” The town also pays more than half of the costs for Medicare and supplemental insurance for employees who have retired or could retire.

“My first impression was that the [parking permit] increases that were proposed are kind of low. But my question is, do we offer any accommodations for our vulnerable population, like disabled, low-income — any sliding scale fees or payment plan options, for example?”

Town councilor ellisha Walker

The meeting moved on to the transportation fund and raising the fees for residential and employee parking permits, which haven’t been raised in years and are significantly lower than other towns in the area. The 28 reserved spots in the Boltwood garage, on the other hand, “bring in more revenue than all of the parking permits we issue for the adjacent area,” said Mangano. During the discussion of how to adjust the fees for employee parking permits, Councilor Ellisha Walker took the opportunity to broach the issue of affordability for low-income people. “My first impression was that the increases that were proposed are kind of low. But my question is, do we offer any accommodations for our vulnerable population, like disabled, low-income — any sliding scale fees or payment plan options, for example?” Mangano responded that disabled people would still have access to free parking wherever they need it and noted that it’s complicated here, with some students lacking income from work but having “another source of income.” He asked, how can the permit fees reflect that and at the same time keep the permit system simple enough for people to understand? 

During public comment, Robin Fordham and Jane Wald spoke about the importance of historic preservation, some of which can be funded by CPA funds.. Fordham emphasized the importance of contributing to the preservation not only of structures owned by the public or by non-profits, but preservation of privately owned structures, one of which, the Conkey-Stevens building, is on the list of proposals for CPA funding:

“Every day, people choose to explore or even relocate to areas where historic preservation is valued…[places with] pride of place and cultural enjoyment—all contribute to the economics and general welfare of these communities.

“It’s true that there isn’t an easy way to disentangle the benefit to the private owner from the benefit to the general public when considering the funding of these publicly visible [but privately owned] resources, but any work in the public view obviously benefits both parties.

“At the same time, historic buildings present unique challenges to their owners, and often…historically sensitive repairs exceed the costs of [repairs] for more contemporary structures. It is for this reason that CPA funding is such an important resource for private owners.” She noted the importance of making sure that only repairs that benefit the public are funded through the CPA. [Note: the Conkey-Stevens proposal was very recently amended to meet that requirement.]”

She reminded the committee that many concerns can be addressed by requiring a preservation restriction. Wald praised that analysis of using CPA funds for privately owned historic buildings, and emphasized that preserving historic buildings helps the town financially by drawing not only visitors but residents who decide to relocate here.