AMHERST — Already facing a possible $1.26 million deficit in next year’s $37.54 million operating budget for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, officials from the four member towns are divided on the best approach for both closing that gap and having each community pay its fair share.

At a four-towns meeting Saturday, bringing together school officials and elected and appointed town officials from Amherst, Leverett, Shutesbury and Pelham at the library at Amherst Regional Middle School, no agreement was reached on how to fund the preferred spending plan developed by Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman and her team, which is $2.27 million, or 6.4%, above this year’s $35.27 million budget.

For a fiscal year 2026 regional budget to be enacted, all four towns will have to agree next spring to a method of calculating assessments that is likely to be different than the statutory method set by the state, based on enrollment and community wealth, while three of the four towns would have to approve the actual assessments.

But Amherst officials are balking at the so-called guardrail method presented by Herman and interim Finance Director Shannon Bernacchia, which would set the limit for assessment increases for each town to 4% and create the deficit in the fiscal year 2026 budget. Under that, Amherst’s fiscal year 2025 $18.84 million assessment would go up by $753,534.

“We can’t raise any more money, but we believe the other three towns can,” said Amherst At-Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke, who called out both Pelham and Leverett as needing to do more to support the regional schools budget, rather than relying on Amherst for more money.

Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman said his understanding is that Amherst has already maxed out its capacity to raise taxes without seeking a Proposition 2½ tax cap override, while the smaller towns have the ability to tax higher.

Under the statutory method without guardrails, but with a 4% overall increase in the school budget, Amherst’s assessment would go up by 2.33%, or $438,599. But this would cause Pelham to have a nearly 20%, or $212,808 increase, to $1.28 million, Leverett would get an 11.3%, or $184,837 increase, to $1.82 million, and Shutesbury would see a 5.5%, or $91,419 increase, to $1.75 million.

Shutesbury officials pitched the idea that instead of a 4% hard cap for each town under the guardrail system, that the $314,935 more Amherst would pay under the guardrail method be spread among Pelham and Leverett, leading to higher than 4% increases for the smaller towns, but not so high that Town Meetings might reject the assessments.

“We don’t think that works,” Shutesbury Finance Committee Chairman Ajay Khashu said of the 4% guardrail system.

Developing the budget

Herman explained that since a similar four-towns meeting in late September, school officials have been able to remove $933,686 from the spending plan while still maintaining core education and staffing.

“Still severe, but moving in the right direction,” is how Herman characterized the budget deficit, saying that is optimistic necessary staffing will be preserved. “Without personnel, there really is no system.”

Some of the savings, she said, has been from bringing more programs in house than through out-of-district contracts. There are also possible savings through continued program review and changing schedules and start times. Herman said transportation savings might come from having more buses filled, rather than some arriving at schools with few students on board.

“These are tough conversations, but all I see are the impact on children,” Herman said.

To avoid the $1.26 million deficit, the four towns’ assessment combined would need to go up to $25.38 million, a combined $2.19 million increase, with Amherst’s going up 7.7%, or $1.45 million, and an 11% increase for Shutesbury, 17% for Leverett and 26% for Pelham.

Bernacchia said the overall 6.4% increase for a fully funded budget is not out of line from the 5% to 6.5% increases other districts are seeing. “We’re not alone in this,” Bernacchia said. Bernacchia developed the 4% guardrail method to reduce the combined assessments to $24.12 million, dropping the combined assessment increase for the four towns from $2.19 million to $927,663.

Deborah Leonard, an Amherst representative to the Regional School Committee, made a passionate appeal for fully funding the regional schools, noting that budgets are affected by the continued challenges from the COVD pandemic.

Tilman Wolf, a member of the Regional School Committee representing Leverett, said the school side is already doing its part through various spending reductions.

More reaction

Even getting a 4% increase in the regional schools assessment could be difficult, said Amherst District 5 Councilor Bob Hegner, who chairs the town’s Finance Committee. Nothing in Amherst’s budget guidelines for the schools and town and library operations would allow for an increase to even that level.

Amherst is also concerned that the 6% increase in the current year’s assessment was built off a one-time $355,440 payment from American Rescue Plan Act money.

Pelham Finance Committee Chairman John Trickey said a 4% assessment increase for Pelham would be doable, but suggested that anything beyond that be sought as a voluntary contribution. Trickey said Leverett voluntarily provided an additional $150,000 to the regional budget several years ago.

Other parts of Pelham’s municipal operations are already feeling the pinch, Trickey said, and taxpayers don’t have the money to pay for significant increases for the schools. He described what is happening as a “squeeze play.”

Phil Carter, a member of Leverett’s Finance Committee, said annual Town Meeting next spring would likely pass an assessment higher than 4%, if asked to do so. “I am confident Leverett Town Meeting would approve a 4% increase and would approve a larger increase, if necessary,” Carter said.

Leverett Select Board Chairman Tom Hankinson agreed with this analysis, though added that getting anywhere close to an 11% assessment increase, as envisioned in the statutory method, would require a significant amount of salesmanship on the part of school officials.

Bernacchia presented information showing that budget deficits could be under control in the coming years, with a fiscal year 2027 showing an $882,528 deficit and a $308,300 deficit in fiscal year 2028.

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