Amherst Town Meeting finally wraps up

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on June 22, 2007

Amherst's 248th Annual Town Meeting finally called it a wrap after a dozen sessions this year - the same number of nights it took last year and one more than in 2005.

The meeting had finished voting on the operating budget (Article 17 on the 40-item warrant), Moderator Harrison Gregg had noted, without much ado midway through the 10th session on June 13.

After all the handwringing, belt-tightening and grandstanding, what had the cuts amounted to?

The meeting more or less adhered to the Finance Committee's suggested 1 percent increase over last year's spending on the elementary schools and municipal budgets.

It approved a 3 percent increase for the regional schools after much back-and-forth, advice from multiple lawyers, consultation with officials in Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury, turnarounds and confusion.

Members voted 98-97 to shave $100,000 from the Finance Committee's suggested $5,855,139 to fund the general government category.

It opted against funding to open War Memorial Pool this year, a downtown institution that has been open every year since 1955. Then Town Meeting reversed that decision and the pool will open after all, albeit a few weeks later than usual, perhaps by July 3, according to Town Manager Laurence Shaffer.

With many expressions of reluctance and dismay, members voted to spend less on grants to area human service agencies than it has in past, flusher years. But Select Board members said they would consider a proposal by Town Meeting member Isaac Ben Ezra to increase spending on the agencies if the town should receive an unanticipated windfall sometime soon.

"The one thing that was most striking to me was the confusion, the sense there was a shell game going on, that money kept appearing and disappearing," Aaron Hayden, chairman of the Planning Board, said about this year's budget debate.

At a time when inflation is outpacing the rate that Amherst can raise revenues through taxation and state aid is declining, Hayden said, "The fundamental problem is not on the table - that its takes more money than we are willing to pay to get the services we want."

Items approved at the meeting's 10th session included the $2 million library services budget.

Disagreement arose over whether the libraries should be allowed to keep $19,000 in fines, largely for late DVD returns collected this year. Under state law, the money goes into the town's general fund, unless there is another arrangement.

The Select Board had originally supported returning the $19,000 to the libraries, but changed its position. The money has already been figured into the town's revenues and board members said they would be hard pressed to cut $19,000 somewhere else, although they will advocate to start returning the fees to the libraries next year.

Town Meeting members also appropriated $3.9 million for the water fund, $3.6 million for the sewer fund, $523,251 for the solid waste fund and $907,453 for the transportation fund.

Along the way, Town Meeting members learned that a hike in the water rate is slated for July. The University of Massachusetts has cut back the amount of water it buys from the town by 36 percent since 2004, contributing to the need to raise rates. On the bright side, the university's conservation efforts will allow the town to supply water to large users in the future.

At the meeting's 11th session on Monday, the main points of contention included the creation of a revolving fund with $155,000 in Community Preservation Act money to lend to three income-eligible families attempting to buy homes in Amherst. The loans would be paid back to the town upon sale of the house.

Member Irvin Rhodes moved to send the article back to the CPA Committee, saying a revolving fund does not help create more affordable housing in Amherst, Rhodes said. "This is not affordable housing. It's affording someone the ability to buy a house."

Peter Jessop, chairman of the CPA Committee, argued that the revolving fund would allow income-eligible people to realize the dream of home ownership in Amherst and should be approved.

The meeting killed $40,000 in proposed CPA spending for a fence at South Cemetery on South East and Middle streets, but approved $101,000 in spending on other historical preservation projects, such as document conservation and Historic Register District nominations.

Historic headstones are at risk from theft and vandalism, members of the Historical Commission said. But several neighbors of the cemetery argued against the fence, saying they watch out for the cemetery, which is a wonderful place to walk without a fence. "I've lived there for 89 years and I'm not aware that any vandalism has taken place," said Homer Cowles, a former Select Board member. "What I do think is there has been a lot of benign neglect."

Among other actions, Town Meeting that night also referred to the Community Development Committee a petition article to spend $9,000 to hire a part-time clinical social worker at the Amherst Survival Center and approved the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District operating and capital budget of $27.5 million and Amherst's share of $12.385,188.

Town Meeting members earlier approved a lesser sum on the premise that Amherst did not have to pay an assessment amounting to a 3 percent increase over last year's spending plan. There was confusion in recent weeks over whether Amherst is locked into the budget approved by the other three towns in the district Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury. The conclusion was that it is.