Letter: Town’s Capital Spending Priorities out of Whack
The building housing the Amherst Department of Public Works is a 100 year old former trolly barn. Photo: Stephen Braun
Did anyone else juxtapose two articles in the Amherst Bulletin published on Friday, December 22. (see here and here). The first article reported the “reluctant” vote of most Town Council members in support of additional funding to continue building the new (expensive) version of the Jones library. However, Part B of the paper had an article titled “early regional budget shows $1.9 M gap” in the school budget for next year, of which Amherst would probably add an additional $533,158 to its share of $17.7 million, according to the article , for this years assessment. I don’t question the fact that the Jones library requires repair. However, Amherst residents are fortunate enough to also be able to use the UMass library, and, I believe the Amherst College library. We know that increases in our taxes are driving long-term residents on limited incomes to have to sell their homes, often to folks who turn housing into rental property. When the fire department fails to get to my burning house in time to save it, may I live in the library?
Our schools have required for years, new, habitable buildings and are experiencing staffing cuts. Our roads put us to shame when compared to the quality and maintenance of the roads in neighboring Hadley, and our DPW is in a building that should embarrass all of us. I have lived in Amherst for over 50 years. We have needed a new fire station, a new building for the DPW and a new school building since I moved here. We are no closer, as far as I can tell, to all of these important projects- we do discuss them endlessly. But our remodeled (third library in Town) will be “state of the art” and the “envy of every other library in the country.”
Priorities, really? I had hoped that the move from Town Meeting to a Town Council would bring better decision making to Amherst, I am disappointed. I have not even mentioned the Amherst Senior Center. I am a Medicare volunteer, and when I compare our Senior Center and its failure to keep staff (I believe due, at least in part, to salaries), to surrounding Senior Centers, I am ashamed. Most of the people I know use the Northampton or Hadley Senior Centers. That means we are failing to prioritize our neediest Seniors in Amherst.
Marilyn Denny
Marilyn Denny is a resident of Amherst
It was 20 years ago as a Town Meeting member that I decided the Public Works building should rise to the top of our capital spending priorities. The long, divisive process of renovating school and library should not delay our the long needed renovation of the public works building. Had we completed that project 20 years ago, the cost would likely have been only 30% the current cost.
To analogize for a moment: Imagine you are shopping for a new car. You really do need something more reliable – the old jalopy needs repairs. You look at models that cost $35K. Affordable, but not glitzy. Then you go to the Mercedes dealership, and fall in love with the smooth ride, the leather seats, the bells and whistles, and the dealer is promising a rebate of $20K. Your neighbors will be envious of your new car. It would be a shame to lose that $20K, wouldn’t it? Except the final price tag is still way over your budget. If you are a mature, fiscally responsible adult, you rub the stars from your eyes, come back to reality, and buy a model you can afford.
Amherst likes to see itself as an intellectually stimulating community. We all agree learning, arts and culture are essential. Now about our math skills…
The Library expansion project was originally ‘sold’ to residents based on a cost estimate that has soared almost 50%. True, the state is kicking in more money, but we are still on the hook to pay millions more than originally proposed, yet the project rolls on. The promise of millions from the state seems to be an irresistible lure, almost as though the town would actually have to pay back the money it does not yet have by not committing to spending more than we can afford. We have become over-invested emotionally in a vanity project that threatens our economic stability. We would do well to look to our neighbors in Shutesbury, where an over-budget library proposal was brought back to reality through the negotiating skills and prudence of their Town officials.
Let’s hope that whatever the final library renovation looks like, it has an expanded collection of books on accounting and economics, that Amherst voters travel the town’s rutted streets to read them, and those voters remember what they learn when the go to vote.