AMHERST — Before the fiscal year 2027 budget is developed for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, representatives from all four member towns are aiming to work with school officials to better identify the local revenues available to support next year’s spending, and to more completely understand the financial circumstances in each community.
With recent years fraught with challenges over what Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury would pay to support education at the middle and high schools, with large assessment increases typical for the smaller towns and an assessment exceeding the budget guidelines set by the Amherst Town Council, the “Four Town Fiscal Sustainability Process” is moving forward to develop both a revenue analysis and to get improved data on historical trends, community comparisons and best practices.
“As we approach the budget process for FY27, we believe it is essential that the towns and the region collaborate to develop a sustainable fiscal plan for the coming years,” reads a draft memo from late June, signed by representatives from each community. “We believe this plan needs to reconcile the region’s needs as developed by the Regional School Committee with the capacity of the four towns to support excellent schools. The absence of such a plan continues to produce concern and consternation, and we believe action is needed now to move beyond that.”
The letter continues, “The goal of this initiative is to establish agreed-upon facts that can serve as a basis for an open, public discussion about the needs of the district and the finances of the towns.”
Council President Lynn Griesemer told councilors on Monday, though, that the effort is complicated by challenges of getting the necessary data and support from the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools.
Griesemer and others who are part of the Four Towns Working Group met on July 8 with Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman and Sarahbess Kenney, chairwoman of the Regional School Committee, to go over the best approach in advance of the first “four town” meeting this fall, and had hoped for more help from MARS, including having a facilitator.
Griesmer said the organization will not be able to provide a facilitator, but can compile data about the towns from Department of Revenue records. All of this, though, is publicly available data and Griesemer said there are few data points specific to the regional schools.
A concern is that the towns may have to pay for these reports and whether they would be valuable for the process.
At Large Councilor Andy Steinberg said what MARS would provide is all publicly available data and questioned whether it would be a wise investment, when staff at the regional central office might be able to gather that financial data.
In addition, Griesmer said the data only goes back 10 years, not as far back to identify trends as the towns would like.
“Each of the towns is also looking at whether or not they are interested in even paying for it,” Griesemer said.
Last year, the first “four town” meeting was held in late September, much earlier than the kickoff four town meeting in 2023, which wasn’t until December. Though even that early start in 2024 was later than requested by the Town Council, which asked for discussions to begin by Aug. 1.
In addition to Griesemer, the Four Towns Working Group is made up of District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, who chairs the Amherst Finance Committee; Pelham Select Board Chairman Robert Agoglia and Finance Committee Chairman John Trickey; Leverett Select Board Chairwoman Patricia Duffy and Town Administrator Marjorie McGinnis; and Shutesbury Select Board Co-Chairwoman Rita Farrell, Finance Committee Chairman Ajay Khashu and Town Administrator Hayley Bolton.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
