SHUTESBURY — Town Meeting on Saturday will consider a compromise funding formula presented by Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools Director of Finance Sean Mangano, among other issues.
The compromise proposes that 90 percent of each town’s school budget will be the average of their last five annual budgets. The remaining 10 percent will be based on property assessments in each town.
“It’s meant to be a one-year compromise so we can look into it further,” Mangano said. “We met with officials from all four towns. The compromise, as opposed to the state method, is much more stable.”
Towns in the regional district are Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury.
Shutesbury Town Clerk Susie Mosher said, “The state allows towns to decide on elements in the formula,” which is used to decide how much money each town gets, based on a number of factors.
Prior to the compromise, there were two main options for the school system. The statutory arrangement, which is the default in Massachusetts, requires towns to pay based on average taxable property values, income and other wealth-related factors. The alternative arrangement takes each town’s average budget for the past five years, based on number of students only.
Since at least the early 2000s, the school district has been using the alternative method. Mangano’s plan, originally proposed March 8, is a compromise that combines the two, with 90 percent of the budget coming from the alternative arrangement, and 10 percent from the statutory arrangement, but only in relation to taxable property value.
“I looked at a bunch of different measures of wealth and ability to pay. This one is the most straightforward. Actual property value seems to be a direct correlation of the town’s ability to pay,” he said.
Eric Stocker, co-chairman of the Shutesbury Finance Committee, said, “The question is, should a wealthy town like Weston receive the same amount of state aid as, say, Holyoke?”
In 2013, the Boston Globe conducted a statewide study finding the average home in Shutesbury cost $232,000, about two-thirds of Leverett’s average of $350,000. The average Pelham home costs $285,000, and Amherst’s average is only $4,500 lower than Leverett’s.
This does not directly represent property taxes, but gives an idea as to each town’s ability to pay.
Yet, “Shutesbury had been paying an increasing proportion because we had more students there,” Mosher said. “So we had to look at it.”
George Arvanitis, the other co-chairman of the Shutesbury Finance Committee, said that under the alternative method, Shutesbury has paid $1.3 million more in the past 10 years than it would have under a statutory formula.
The 90/10 compromise “is a much more fair method than the five-year rolling average,” he said.
“It’s a stepping-stone,” said Arvanitis’ colleague, Stocker. If implemented, the 90/10 compromise would affect the assessments for Amherst and Pelham minimally, increase Leverett’s assessment by about $24,000, and decrease Shutesbury’s assessment by about $27,000.
“Ten percent strictly based on each town’s total taxable property values as a percentage of the total taxable property value of all four towns,” Arvanitis said.
“We were hoping to go 25 percent towards the statutory formula,” said Shutesbury Town Administrator Becky Torres. This would put less emphasis on how many students each town has and more emphasis on each town’s ability to pay.
Leverett has already approved the compromise at last Saturday’s Town Meeting, even though it would be the most disadvantaged. Amherst also adopted the compromise.
Pelham and Shutesbury will vote on Saturday. The compromise would only be implemented if all four towns approve it.
In addition to the compromise vote, Town Meeting will consider a resolution expressing the town’s sentiment about adding broadband, a zoning bylaw for solar ground-mounted installations, and general budget matters.
Geoff Dempsey can be reached at geoffrey.i.dempsey@gmail.com.