AMHERST — Federal money coming to the Amherst Regional School District could be used as a way to even out budget assessments for member towns Amherst, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury, possibly creating a path for stabilizing these costs over the long term.
In a plan unveiled at a meeting of officials from the four towns on Thursday, Superintendent Michael Morris and Douglas Slaughter, the district’s finance chief, proposed that a portion of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, from the federal CARES COVID relief act, be applied to next year’s assessments.
Using the so-called ESSER funds would prevent any of the assessments from going up or down by more than 4% in supporting a $33.17 million spending plan for the middle school, high school and Summit Academy.
Morris is referring to this as a “guardrail” system that creates assessments that don’t rise or fall too rapidly. The idea is to have budgets that can be supported at annual Town Meetings, or in the case of Amherst its Town Council, in a time when there has been annual debate over how to apportion the spending. That annual debate has been contentious enough that some officials have expressed concern about fracturing the relationship.
Amherst and Leverett officials are generally in favor of the regional agreement method that is based strictly on each community’s enrollment, while Shutesbury prefers a statutory method provided by the state that is based, in part, on a town’s income and taxable property.
This year, the assessment formula, agreed to last year, uses 65% of the so-called statutory method, with a 5-year rolling enrollment average added in.
“I’m in favor of the guardrail,” said Pelham Finance Committee member John Trickey. “Whoever came up with it, I applaud them.”
“I really congratulate Doug and Mike for doing this work,” said Amherst School Committee member Irv Rhodes.
Under the plan, there is an increase of $408,655 in the assessments, up to $21.16 million from the $20.76 million this year.
If deployed, Amherst’s assessment would rise by 2.5%, or $420,175, to $17.17 million, while the three smaller towns combined would see their assessments drop.
Pelham, though, would see its assessment go up by $37,181, or 4%, to $969,706, and Leverett would go up by $15,744, or 1.1%, to $1.48 million. They would be offset by a drop for Shutesbury of $64,445, or 4%, to $1.55 million.
Amherst officials appeared to be OK with the adjustments, since the 2.5% increase meets the recommendation of its Finance Committee.
The plan also has support from Shutesbury, even though its assessment would drop by more without the guardrails. Finance Committee member Ajay Khasha said it moves the region closer to a more equitable assessment formula and more long-term stability.
Leverett Finance Committee member Jed Proujansky said the town remains concerned about getting formulas that may lead to cuts, and that under certain circumstances there might be insufficient money to properly run the district.
Still, Leverett Select Board member Julie Shively said the plan appears to be “good for this year.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
