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Date: 5/24/2022
AMHERST – The Amherst Town Council and Finance Committee hosted a public hearing on Zoom and fielded questions and comments from the public for 45 minutes on May 16.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman introduced the budget with a presentation and Finance Director Sean Mangano. Bockelman thanked the dozens of people it took to prepare and present the budget, saying hundreds of hours were spent on it. Bockelman marked the hearing as the start of their public engagement process. He recommended people attend regular Cuppa’ Joe meetings with Bockelman on Fridays, upcoming forums and twice-weekly meetings with the finance committee for more information or to ask questions.
“Supply chain and staffing challenges have created new challenges and new pressures on our budget and our expenditures,” Bockelman said. “We have been very successful taking advantage of grant opportunities that have been out there and with great success we’ll be finding more of those as we go forward. At the same time, the council has established goals for the town through a robust public process last Fall. The two overarching goals that have driven this budget process has been sustainability and racial equity. They serve as a lens for all our decisions.”
The proposed budget totals nearly $90 million – an overall increase of 5.1 percent from fiscal year 2022 (FY22). The operating budget for the town, schools and Jones Library is projected to increase by 2.5 percent to over $70 million of the total budget. The presentation included a list of notable projects to be included in the FY23 Capital Improvement Program. These include $1.5 million for roads, nearly $2 million for a replacement Fire Department ladder truck and ambulance which had its wheels fall off near the end of April, $350,000 for a new gym floor at Crocker Farm Elementary and $200,000 for both sidewalks and sustainability projects.
The town has six spending focuses: climate action, community health and safety, economic vitality, major capital investments, housing affordability and racial equity and social justice. Much of the funding for these projects in FY23 comes out of the $11.9 million awarded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). According to the budget document on the town’s website, the town has chosen to allocate ARPA funds in two rounds with the first round totaling $9.7 million as of now. Two million dollars of the ARPA funds will go to support the development of affordable housing and a shelter or transitional housing. Sites at Belchertown Road and East Street School will continue their development.
“As much as possible, we’re advocating for questions to come through the Engage Amherst page at www.engageamherst.org,” Mangano said. “One of the first things you’ll see there is the FY23 budget and there’s a Q&A where you can submit a question where the responses get posted publicly below. This keeps a running list of questions so that that information is available to everybody.”
Amherst School Committee member Peter Demling was the first to make a public comment. He spoke in support of the school’s budget proposal which exceeded the town’s recommendation by over $50,000.
“The town is receiving $64,000 more in state aid for public schools than what was originally planned for when the budget guidance was provided to the schools,” Demling said. “The school budget proposal does not cost the town any more than what the town determined it could afford for the schools when it issued its guidance. The School Committee has never to my knowledge proposed a budget above guidance, even when it has required painful cuts … there’s a long history of the schools being trustworthy and reliable fiscal partners with the town.”
The remainder of public comment centered around support for the community service recommendations by the Community Safety Working Group (CSWG). Amherst residents and students demanded that the council focus on cutting the Amherst Police Department’s (APD) budget and using the funding for racial and environmental reparative programs.
“I’m here today to urge the council to meet the demands of the Defund413 Amherst, which involve cutting the APD budget by 47 percent, funding and implementing the CSWG’s recommended programs, and reducing the size of the APD,” said Amherst College senior Andrea Munoz Ledo. “The reallocation of these funds will allow for better public services that center racial and environmental justice and that will actually serve the community’s needs. The point is not to negate the positive experiences that people have had with the APD, the point is to address the negative, problematic and often traumatizing experiences that a large amount of people, notably people of color have had.”
Marisol Pierce Bonifaz followed Ledo, and told the council she is representing Sunrise Amherst, a local chapter of a national movement working to achieve an intersectional climate and racial justice.
“On April 24 this year, we collaborated with the Progressive Coalition of Amherst on a community forum to welcome all voices to a budget discussion and released a letter that reflected the needs and demands expressed at that forum by residents, union leaders, teachers, firefighters, mental health workers, activists and more,” Bonifaz said. “I’m here to speak about the crucial need for adequate CRESS [Community Responders for Equity Safety and Service] funding so our newly-appointed CRESS director and their department can do their jobs successfully. Last budget cycle, after over a year of the CSWG compiling research, information and eventually a full recommendation report, only 6 percent of the funding they requested was granted in the budget. This is unacceptable. By fully funding and supporting CRESS, the Amherst Town Council would be actively listening and acting upon our resident’s demands. For too long, I’ve watched our town government hold empty promises while you pretend to listen. I see no real action.”
Demetria Shabazz, a 15-year resident of Amherst, criticized the council for delaying a response to the African Heritage Reparations Assembly after they made a request in October and advocated for the importance of fully funding CRESS.
One resident in Amherst’s affordable housing said they would rather the council focuses its energy on empowering the town’s youth.
“I have a lot of concerns for the youth, for my own and those in my immediate community,” they said. “I appreciate the comments of those who want to defund the police, but I do not feel like it’s an either-or situation to promote and fund social services that are needed. I have seen as I’m sure others have realized the crises going on around the world so at this time, I don’t feel that it’s wise to just say defund the police. I appreciate the CRESS program that will be implemented soon, and I just want to know how monies will be used and what programs will directly impact the youth because at this juncture I still do not see what programs have been put forward to directly, positively impact the youth.”