AMHERST — For his first annual spending plan, Town Manager Paul Bockelman has proposed a budget that maintains existing services, using anticipated local and state revenue, but doesn’t provide any additional staff.
“Stability and progress is the catchword of this year, I guess,” Bockelman said at the unveiling of his fiscal year 2018 budget to the Select Board and Finance Committee on Thursday.
The $22.97 million budget proposal, which will come to Town Meeting in the spring, is $560,174 more than this year’s budget and was developed with assistance from interim co-finance directors Sonia Aldrich and Claire McGinnis.
Bockelman said the budget plan has no drama and is sound and responsible, providing the same level of services, while also allowing the town to complete various organizational changes, such as health inspectors moving into the Planning and Inspections offices at Town Hall from the Health Department at the Bangs Community Center. The budget also meets the Finance Committee guidelines of limiting the increase to 2½ percent.
But the budget proposal means that the Fire Department, which Bockelman said faces an increasing call volume, will not have any new firefighter paramedics yet. Once a fire staffing study that began last year is complete, recommendations will be made and options can be developed on how to confront this issue.
Bockelman said he heard needs from meetings with several department heads, but he sets a high bar for creating new initiatives or adding staff , even if paid for through grants.
“I’m very loath to add new positions unless there is strong logic for it and a continual funding source for it,” Bockelman said.
Philosophically, Bockelman said, it is more important to make sure the town has long-term financial stability and meets liabilities such as Other Post Employment Benefits and pensions. This has been the traditional way town managers and finance directors have developed budgets in Amherst.
“Because of this history of stewardship, we’re in a really good position,” Bockelman said. “I hope to build on this legacy of pragmatic, progressive financial management.”
He added that he was reluctant to make too many changes to municipal operations after starting his tenure in August.
“It’s my first year creating a budget and (I’m) still understanding the town,” Bockelman said.
The budget, along with four enterprise funds, maintains the 245.83 full-time equivalents currently employed, adding a handful of hours for electrical inspectors and the sustainability coordinator. But Bockelman said it also makes an investment in people to attract the best and brightest talent, and develop them professionally.
Salaries and health benefits for the contracts of the five employee unions that have been settled are in the budget. Additional money has been set aside to cover wage and benefit adjustments for the police patrolman’s union, which has not yet settled its contract.
The budget also preserves $105,000 in subsidies so children in low-income families can participate in Leisure Services and Supplemental Education programs.
Bockelman said he used conservative estimates of a 2 percent increase in state aid, though town officials will have a better sense of how much will be provided when Gov. Charlie Baker unveils his budget proposal Jan. 25.
Aldrich said there was $600,000 in new growth, based on the revenue from improvements to taxable property, a bit higher than the 10-year average.
Bockelman, though, said there is not a trend of significant new construction, even with some projects being built, such as the mixed use One East Pleasant, and others being planned, like the North Square at the Mill District. This will limit new growth.
“We don’t have a lot of new money to do new things,” Bockelman said.
Amherst received a $130,000 gift from Amherst College, $220,000 from a strategic partnership with the University of Massachusetts, which includes money collected from hotel taxes, and $300,000 from the Comcast agreement for public, education and government, or PEG, access. This marked the first year PEG access is counted as revenue.
Finance Committee Chairwoman Marylou Theilman said she is concerned that UMass is still not providing the town money for children who live in tax-exempt housing and are educated in the public schools.
Bockelman acknowledged that. “We have not gotten more money from UMass for that purpose,” he said.
Bockelman said conversations are happening with UMass officials, but there are challenges in getting more funds.
The budget has a priority “add” list, including a procurement position, at $19,958, that would be shared with the schools, to help departments comply with state procurement laws; $20,000 for contractual overtime for the communications center where dispatchers work for the police and fire departments; and $27,428 for matching a grant for a solid waste enforcement officer.
Bockelman also presented a $4.37 million water fund, a $4.3 million sewer fund, a $469,862 solid waste fund and a $1.16 million transportation fund. The transportation fund will include purchase of new parking machines for downtown parking lots.
The full municipal budget, which will come before Town Meeting in the spring, will be around $77.26 million, which also includes the budgets for Jones Library and elementary schools, and the assessment for the regional schools.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
