AMHERST — Residents earlier this week gave their two cents about priorities for next year’s municipal budget, calling for better support for the public schools and the town’s unarmed community responders program, as well as getting a youth empowerment center and a community center for Black, Indigenous and people of color established.

At a public forum Monday that serves as a kickoff to the preparation of town, school and library budgets for fiscal 2025 over the next several months, residents described needs that should be addressed in the spending plans. Residents also offered input, both for and against, a nearly $10 million increase in the borrowing authorization for the $46.14 million Jones Library renovation and expansion project the Town Council could consider at its Dec. 4 meeting.

For next year’s budget, which begins July 1, Allegra Clark of Cherry Lane said that preserving school positions should be a priority, reporting that her child has been affected by the elimination of library paraeducators.

“The schools were significantly impacted with the number of cuts and how it has affected morale, so I would hope we can fight to keep our schools funded and positions intact,” Clark said.

The cuts came after the original budget proposal from the Amherst School Committee was rejected after it exceeded the financial guidelines set by the Town Council.

Vincent O’Connor of Summer Street said similar school requests should be honored in future years.

To provide more funding, though, O’Connor suggested forming two new Town Council subcommittees. One would work with the School Committee to persuade Amherst College to provide a substantial contribution to the town’s education budgets, while the other would negotiate with the University of Massachusetts to get a direct payment for a new road repair fund.

“I think the reason to do that is the elected councilors have the moral and political equivalent of the two legislators who represent this community in the state Legislature,” O’Connor said.

Jeff Lee of South East Street said he is concerned about the fiscal cliff the schools may face when pandemic-era Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds, part of the American Rescue Plan Act,  are depleted. “I really haven’t heard a solid explanation for how we’re going to deal with that,” Lee said.

Two departments – the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and and Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service – need to be fully funded, said Pat Ononibaku, who chairs the Progressive Coalition of Amherst political action committee. She said youth empowerment and BIPOC cultural centers are essential. “We should have our own space where we can feel comfortable to gather,” Ononibaku said.

Birdy Newman of District 3 said the town budget should prioritize racial justice, innovative public safety and community building through expansion of the CRESS department and devoting town resources to get the youth empowerment center and BIPOC cultural center off the ground. “It’s important to me that you know that we are still watching, we are still voting, and we will not stop advocating for an equitable and safe Amherst,” Newman said.

Clark agreed that the youth empowerment center should be a priority.“The CRESS department should be operational 24/7 and I would love to see, once dispatch is sending 911 calls to CRESS, what the impact of that is when we’ve evaluating public safety staffing.”

On other topics for the budget, Elizabeth Haygood, a member of the Human Rights Commission, said an increase from $2,000 to $10,000 for its work would support diverse cultural and heritage events. “They promote harmony and they allow community members to know who we are and what we can do for them, and it brings everyone together,” Haygood said.

Former Health Board Chairwoman Nancy Gilbert said the health department needs to be better supported, pointing out that it is underfunded compared to Northampton and Easthampton.

“I’m very concerned that if we have another pandemic or other crisis, that the health department will not be adequately staffed,” Gilbert said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.