Finance Committee Recommends Increase to School Budget Base and No Change to CRESS Funding

Report on the Meeting of the Finance Committee, November 22, 2024

By Maura Keene

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded. 

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

Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager), Melissa Zawadzki (Finance Director), Athena O’Keeffe (Clerk of the Council)

The Finance Committee agreed to increase the base for next year’s regional school budget and for ongoing funding of the CRESS alternative responders program, but did not have time to discuss the distribution of the budget surplus from FY2024 and the Finance Director’s models for funding the town’s major capital projects: the Jones Library expansion, the Fire/EMS Station, and a new headquarters for the Department of Public Works. Another meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, November 27 to address those topics. 

The committee agreed that the town should not adopt new initiatives unless they are supported by a projected revenue stream. It also agreed that there should not be a Prop 2 ½ override to increase property taxes in order to finance a budget deficit. 

Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke took feedback from other Finance Committee members to create a draft of the budget guidelines document for FY2026. Cathy Schoen and Hanneke pointed out how budget projections in past years have underestimated receipts leading to a substantial budget surplus at year’s end. Finance Director Melissa Zawadzki stated that the town has policies in place that make it necessary to be conservative with revenue projections, but that there will be a more accurate picture of revenue in January, when the state budget is released and the figures from the first quarter tax receipts of FY25 are known. She suggested focusing on revenues after that time. 

Hanneke noted that, for the past several years, “new growth,” which increases the town’s property tax collection, has been estimated at $650,000 every year, rather than reflecting construction actually occurring. She felt the number should be adjusted to reflect the actual situation. 

Non Voting member Bernie Kubiak worried about overestimating receipts, resulting in a budget deficit, but Council Clerk Athena O’Keeffe pointed out that it is not in the council’s purview to adjust revenue projections. That is up to the staff, she said. She advised that the committee concentrate on what goals it wants to achieve with the budget guidelines. Kubiak then suggested that the town make a list of priority projects that can be financed with budget surpluses to direct how that money will be spent in the future.

Andy Steinberg noted that school advocates are pushing for more money, so they can develop their budgets. He feared that if more money was tentatively allotted to the schools, the resulting school budgets would have to be cut in May, when final figures were known. But Hanneke stated that, at the recent Four Towns meeting, the School Superintendent asked for a six percent increase over last year’s budget, not the three percent recommended by the Town Manager. Hanneke said that if the one-time $355,000 in ARPA money was added to the base budget for the regional schools, adding three percent would effectively achieve a six percent increase over the Town Manager’s suggested guidelines. She proposed prioritizing using any surplus for the schools in order to compensate for the ARPA funds awarded for this year. Schoen agreed that surplus funds should not be distributed equally, noting that the library should not need more than the three percent increase, especially if it is in the middle of a building project. 

Ellisha Walker said she was speaking as a parent of three children in the public schools who all receive special services. She is concerned about them being able to continue to access those services. She added that the schools have been operating with constraints for years and have cut staff positions and programs. She said she wanted to see an assessment of needs before making budget allocations.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman worried that making different allocations to different departments will pit departments against each other and damage the working relationship between areas. He said he was afraid of opening up this discussion, but Walker said this change should be considered constructive, not destructive, because it allows the town to decide how to handle the budget. Schoen pointed out special stresses on the schools due to the state’s charter school formula, which takes $3.2 million out of the elementary and regional school budgets to pay for school tuition for Amherst children who go to charter schools. She also pointed out that the town has increased contributions to capital expenses and OPEB (other post-employment benefits), while resisting increases to the schools above the amount given to the municipal and library budgets, regardless of need. 

Committee Rejects Freezing of CRESS Budget
The draft budget guidelines recommends freezing the budget for the Community Responders for Equity, Service, and Safety (CRESS) until an assessment of the program is completed. Walker, however, pointed out that the program cannot be evaluated when it is not completely staffed, and, for much of its existence, it was unable to do what it was intended to do by not being able to take calls from dispatch. Bockelman pointed out that the program was largely funded from grants, so its funding has minimal effect on the budget. The committee agreed to remove the section on freezing the CRESS budget from the guidelines draft, and to shift the assessment of the program to the Town Manager’s goals.