FY 26 Budget Guidelines Still a Work in Progress

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Finance Committee, November 27, 2024, and Amherst Town Council, December 2, 2024 

The Finance Committee meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded. The Town Council meeting was held in a hybrid format and was also recorded.

Present at the Finance Committee Meeting
Bob Hegner (Chair, District 5), Ellisha Walker and Mandi Jo Hanneke (at large), and Cathy Schoen (District 1) Non Voting members: Tom Porter and Bernie Kubiak. Absent: Andy Steinberg (at large) and nonvoting member Matt Holloway.

Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager), Athena O’Keeffe (Council Clerk), Melissa Zawadzki (Finance Director), and Holly Drake (Comptroller).

Present at the Town Council Meeting
Lynn Griesemer (President, District 2), Andy Steinberg, Mandi Jo Hanneke, Ellisha Walker (at large), Freke Ette (District 1), George Ryan (District 3), Pam Rooney (District 4), Bob Hegner and Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5). Jennifer Taub (District 4) and Hala Lord (District 3) joined late. Schoen and Pat DeAngelis (District 2) were absent.

Staff: Bockelman and O’Keeffe.

Budget Guidelines Still a Work in Progress
The Finance Committee spent most of its meeting revising the draft Budget Guidelines for FY 2026, without finalizing the document. Discussion will resume at the December 6 meeting. At the council meeting, councilors  who are not members of the Finance committee weighed in on the draft. With the focus on the budget guidelines, the Finance Committee did not have an opportunity to evaluate the four potential models that had been proposed by Budget Director Melissa Zwadzki for financing the Jones Library renovation and the new fire/EMS station and DPW buildings.

Last year the regional schools received an additional $355,000 in a one-time allocation of ARPA funds to maintain some student-facing positions. The Finance Committee endorsed the town adding $355,000 to the base 2025 budget for 2026 funding, a change from the position they took last year that the $355,000 increase was to be for one year only.  However, the committee did maintain that all budget areas (schools, library, operating budget, capital spending) need to show how they can hold to a 3%-4% annual increase over the next four years. The committee also recommended charging a fee for new water and sewer hook ups and freezing contributions to other post-employment benefits (OPEB) at $600,000. This money funds retirement benefits and part of the health insurance for retired town employees. Eventually, the fund will be large enough to endow the benefits. 

The committee also recommended that budget surpluses be estimated in the spring, before the new budget is passed, and that surpluses above previously-approved line-item budgets for town departments and the funds for reparations and capital stabilization be allotted to roads and sidewalks and/or to areas of particular need, such as the schools. At the council meeting, Town Manager Paul Bockelman stated that budget projections are updated frequently, so that an estimate of the surplus should be available in the spring, once state aid and health insurance costs are released. 

At the council meeting, Pam Rooney asked the Finance Committee to carefully examine the budget for the proposed Jones Library renovation to make sure that the project was fiscally viable. But President Lynn Griesemer downplayed Rooney’s concerns, saying, “The [memorandum of understanding] for the library covers the fact that at a certain point in time the library trustees have to come up with the balance, not leaving it for the town.”  At the Finance Committee meeting, a memo from Andy Steinberg, conveyed by Bob Hegner, recommended that the budget guidelines not address the funding of the Jones library project because it is not the responsibility of the council or the Town Manager, but rests with the library trustees.

Griesemer also urged the council to decide on the sites for the fire/EMS station and DPW buildings because the buildings can’t be designed without the sites being approved. Rooney agreed that Hickory Ridge might be a good site for the fire station and the current DPW site for a replacement of the current building, but she said she had not seen any of the data supporting those locations. 

Although the models for financing the four large capital projects were not discussed in detail at either meeting, Cathy Schoen noted during the Finance Committee meeting that most of the borrowing costs for the capital projects were not included in the model. Mandi Jo Hanneke did not feel the committee had enough information to make a decision on the models. Several members on the Finance Committee expressed concern that the $3 million for annual capital spending in each of the models would not be sufficient to keep up with the town’s capital needs.

State of the Town Address Lauds Accomplishments and Staff
Griesemer and Bockelman gave the annual State of the Town address as required by the town charter. The slide decks for their presentations will be added to the town website at a later date.

Griesemer pointed out the legislative accomplishments of the council, passing new bylaws for rental registration and nuisance properties, as well as reducing the speed limit on most streets from 30 to 25 miles per hour. She also cited ongoing work on a solar bylaw, waste hauler reform, an overlay zoning district on University Drive, and a new streetlight policy. Because the state legislature did not act in the previous session, the Town Council had to refile requests for special legislation on rank choice voting, a real estate transfer fee for high end housing sales, and voting rights for non-citizens in local elections. She highlighted the ongoing review of the charter, a once every 10-year process. 

Bockelman touted Amherst’s solid financial standing and recent improvements to the Kendrick Park playground, the remodeled North Common, the new addition to the North Amherst Library, the hiking trails at Hickory Ridge, the creation of several roundabouts at busy intersections, and the new Centennial Water Treatment facility. He thanked the town staff for their hard work.

He praised the town’s commitment to racial equity and climate action and the involvement of residents. He said he tries to keep the long-term plan “an explicit part of the daily conversation to make the short-term setbacks easier to bear. It’s inevitable that one project or another will be unpopular with at least one group.”  He added, “I think it’s the attacks, more than the actual content of any disagreement, that make employees feel undercut and discouraged. We must commit to undertaking this work with an attitude of love and gratitude for one another, even those with whom we disagree.”

Bockelman concluded, “I appreciate the opportunity to serve you and the people of Amherst. I’m privileged to work alongside our incredible staff. And still, after eight years here, when I drive home late at night with my family, I see this lovely little town, and I’m grateful to be here.”

Annual reports from the Jones Library Trustees and School Committee, as well as the Oliver Smith Charities were included in the meeting packet, but were not presented.

Council Supports Resolution Opposing Expansion of Chinese Charter School
The Town Council joined the School Committee in opposing the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School’s (PVCICS) petition to the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to expand its enrollment from 584 to 684 students. The resolution was sponsored by  Councilors Ana Devlin Gauthier, Lynn Griesemer, Cathy Schoen, and Andy Steinberg and cited the harm done to the public schools by the state’s funding of charter schools with funds from students’ home districts. This funding has resulted in Amherst schools spending about $3 million a year on charter school tuition. The resolution passed by a vote of 7-1.

Hanneke was the sole opposing vote. She maintained that, although the funding of charter schools should be changed, the primary cause of the budget deficit at the regional schools was not caused by charter schools. She noted that the demand for PVCICS has increased and that five percent of Amherst students now attend the school. She maintained that those students choose to go to PVCICS “because the public schools are not meeting their needs.” 

High School Track and Field and Additional Water and Sewer Funding Referred to Finance Committee
Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek and Capital Projects Manager Bob Peirent presented the Community Preservation Act (CPA) committee’s recommendation for an additional $800,000 of CPA funds to be borrowed to complete the funding of the $4.47 million renovation to the high school track and field. The project includes improving drainage of the area, reorienting the track to a north-south direction, enlarging it to eight lanes, and improving the accessibility of the facility. The project is expecting to receive CPA funds from the other three towns as well.

The project is also awaiting approval from the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board, but Peirent said he hopes that it will go out to bid in January for construction during the summer of 2025. The council passed the referral by a vote of 7-0.

Councilor Pam Rooney asked about the protection of the pipe routing Tan Brook, which runs under the field. Peirent assured her that the cement pipe is in good condition and that its protection is a priority for the project. The integrity of the pipe will be reassessed during and at the completion of the construction. 

Hanneke asked how any surplus funds would be divided between the towns. Peirent answered that if a bid below the allocated funds was received, the extra money would first go to increasing the contingency on the project. Also, there were several aspects, such as lighting, fencing, and walkway paving that could be added if funding exists, but are listed as alternates in the bids. 

Although Hanneke questioned why town staff were working on a project for the regional schools, Griesemer noted that the track serves community members of the four-towns who use it for exercise as well as regional students. She wanted to make sure that the agreement with the school specifies which entity will be responsible for the maintenance of the facility.

DPW Superintendent Guilford Mooring asked for three appropriations from the water and sewer enterprise funds. All were referred to the Finance Committee by unanimous votes. The first was for $250,000 to cover the cost of removing sludge from the wastewater, which came in over the budgeted amount. He also asked for funds for the operating budget due to additional testing for PFAS chemicals, which is now required, and for additional costs of monitoring pH and chlorine in the town’s drinking water, as well as more work needed for the gravity belt thickener. Mooring said that there have been several chlorine violations in recent years. 

There will be a public forum to address all of these appropriations in January.

The council meeting ended with an Executive Session to discuss the Town Manager’s salary. Bockelman received an excellent evaluation, compiled by Griesemer.