Amherst Center: Business as usual or plan for change?

Published on April 27, 2007

Overrides tend to be highly charged and emotional. "No more overrides!" shout the opponents, yet we've only passed one override since 1994. "Focus on core functions!" they say, while our school and town managers waste six months a year wrestling with uncertain resources instead of focusing on teaching, public safety and potholes. "Cut administrators!" they holler, when administrators are only 3 percent of our school staff and being cut further.

We can keep chasing our tails and shouting at each other, or we can take a deep breath, accept the reality that our financial picture doesn't add up, and adopt a real plan to fix things: the Finance Committee's three-year Amherst Plan.

A "Yes" vote on Tuesday tells the town to (1) control spending through immediate budget cuts and a three-year cap on budget increases, (2) aggressively pursue new revenue sources to broaden the tax base, and (3) plan ahead, with a $2.5 million override this year and no additional overrides for at least three years.

We support the Amherst Plan, and here's why.

Amherst has a math problem

Proposition 21/2 arbitrarily limits property tax increases to 2.5 percent. But inflation in Massachusetts was 3.59 percent last year, and our town's inflation was even higher, because of spiraling health insurance costs. Add cuts in state aid and unfunded government mandates, and it seems a miracle that we have had only one override since 1994.

But it's not a miracle - the reality is, we've been steadily cutting our services, as the gap between the tax limit and the cost of basic services has widened. Last year, the schools cut 22 teachers. Over the past two years, they have cut three-quarters of their budget for textbooks and library books. Town and library departments have also made painful service cuts.

No one wants to raise taxes. But most of us want good schools, and public safety, and support for seniors, and paved and plowed streets. If we keep on denying the reality of inflation, we will wake up one day soon to find the Amherst quality of life is gone.

Even with the override, there will be cuts to schools, public safety and town services. There will also be a shared commitment by the various town departments to cap future spending, for financial stability. (For more info, go to theamherstplan.org.)

Vote for a broader tax base

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Amherst Plan is that it tells our town leaders to aggressively pursue new sources of revenue. The town manager has said that if the Amherst Plan passes he will recommend the hiring of an economic development director to attract Amherst-appropriate businesses and support other initiatives to broaden our tax base.

This signals a move toward forward-looking, revenue-focused planning, not just praying for bailouts while we slash schools, safety and services. If you have been frustrated that the town has not been focusing on a plan for fiscal sustainability, this is your chance to say so.

Some taxes have dropped

No one likes to pay taxes. So we notice when they go up. But do we notice when they go down? Consider these facts: (1) Our federal income taxes have been cut. (2) Our state income taxes have been cut. (3) Our property taxes have been held below the rate of inflation for years. (4) Massachusetts now ranks among the very lowest states in the share of income collected in taxes.

As Gov. Deval Patrick stated in his campaign, state taxes and local taxes are a shell game - when they cut state taxes, the impact "trickles down" in cuts to local communities. We can't deny this reality and "just say no."

We have a lot to lose

If the Amherst Plan is voted down, we will lose dozens more teachers, double the number of required study halls for our high school students, and increase class sizes across all of our schools. We will keep wasting our principals' and superintendent's time as they scramble for six months of each year to figure out what to cut next while harming our children's education the least. We will have further cuts to our police, and we will stretch our firefighters even further, potentially increasing wait times for ambulances. And we will squander the opportunity to hire an economic development director who can actually focus on new ways of paying for town services other than raising our taxes.

And if this vote fails, after all this pain, there will certainly be another override proposal next year, because we won't have solved our math problem.

No one wants to raise taxes. We're all angry about being in this situation, and we all have our own financial burdens to bear. But there is no other plan on the table. A "No" vote is a vote for more of the same, with more bickering and fewer resources.

Vote "Yes" for the Amherst Plan. Vote "Yes" for change on Tuesday, May 1.

Amherst Center is a monthly column that seeks to present local issues from a centrist point of view. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill.