By Alex Cox  ||  coxalexj@gmail.com

A report on the Regular Meeting of the Amherst Town Council on Monday, June 16.

The Amherst Town Council approved the Town Manager’s Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2026 at its June 16 meeting. The approved $103.3 million budget sets spending levels for the major Town services areas (schools, libraries, town services, and capital) for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2025 and ends on June 30, 2026.

Under the approved budget, the library and town services budget each increased by 4% from their FY2025 base. The elementary school district received a 5% increase, with 1% of this increase coming from free cash as one-time “bridge” funding until potential savings are realized from the consolidation from three to two schools with the new Elementary School. The regional school district received a 4.81% increase in contribution from the Town. 

The budget follows the guidelines established and amended by the Town Council, and was passed unamended from the proposal made by Town Staff at the May 5 Town Council Meeting. Although Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke (at-large) introduced an amendment to eliminate the free cash gift to the elementary schools (citing concerns that the school committee had not yet provided “assurances of savings” from school consolidation), the amendment was defeated in a 12-1 vote. 

The budget passed by over two-thirds majority, with only Councilors Heather Hala Lord (District 3), Ellisha Walker (at-large), and Pat De Angelis (District 2) voting against its adoption. 

Although many councilors expressed sadness at the 6.4 full-time equivalent position freezes that will occur under the budget (including 2 full-time positions from CRESS), most recognized that the current fiscal outlook leaves the Town with few other options. “This budget required difficult choices,” said Councilor Cathy Schoen (District 1, Finance Committee Chair), “to put it bluntly: our expenses are going up faster than our revenues.” 

Early budgetary projections indicate that this year’s fiscal challenges are part of larger trends that will continue to stretch municipal funding in the coming years. “This budget’s difficult… the road ahead is going to be much tighter,” said Council President Lynn Griesemer (District 2). “Hopefully we can sustain this budget as we go through this year – I hate having to say what I just said.” In the face of changing funding landscapes at the federal level, and the impacts on state funding, meeting local funding commitments might require even more sacrifices than the budget currently predicts. 

At the remainder of the monday meeting, Town Council passed other financial orders related to the budget and referred planning and zoning amendments for consideration.The Council also unanimously increased water and sewer rates from $5.25 to $6.45/100 cubic feet and from $5.85 to $6.95/100 cubic feet, respectively. With these increases, the average Amherst homeowner annual water bill is projected to increase from $495 to $605, and the average annual sewer bill is projected to increase from $538 to $639. In a memo to the Town Council, the Town Manager explained that several years of declining water consumption, resulting in lower revenue to cover the mostly fixed expenses to maintain the water and sewer system, as well as the critical need for costly repairs to both systems, are driving the need to increase the rates.

Finally, the Town Council reconsidered a June 2 vote and authorized four Councilors (Griesemer, Schoen, Hanneke, Devlin Gauthier) and the Town Manager to represent the Town Council at an upcoming meeting with the School Committee, Superintendent, and representatives from the other Towns in the Regional School District. This meeting, which has yet to be scheduled by the Superintendent, is intended as an opportunity for all entities to discuss shared financial goals, challenges, and strategies moving forward.

The next Town Council meeting will be on June 30 in Town Hall at 6:30 and will include a discussion on accepting Paley Village into the public way and sending correspondence to the school committee about future budgetary bases. Town Council meetings are also accessible via Zoom, livestream, and Amherst Media broadcast. Meeting details, agendas, and access are posted on the Town Council webpage. If you’re interested in knowing more about upcoming Council meetings, you can subscribe to text and email updates from the Town. If you want the Current’s coverage of the next Town Council meeting delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe using the field below. 

Alex Cox (he/him) is a current graduate student at UMass- Amherst studying Regional Planning (MRP) and Public Policy and Administration (MPPA). He currently serves on the Amherst Affordable Housing Trust Fund and as the Graduate Director of the Student Union Art Gallery. He has been a member of the Amherst Current editorial board since 2024.