Amherst eyes redirecting $1M in one-time ARPA monies to cover regional school budget

Downtown Amherst looking down Main Street toward the Town Hall building.

Downtown Amherst looking down Main Street toward the Town Hall building. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 05-29-2024 3:31 PM

AMHERST — A possible redirection of a portion of $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act money is being proposed to cover Amherst’s assessment to support the $35.27 million fiscal year 2025 operating budget for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, rather than being used to pay for an expanded solar canopy at Fort River School.

With Amherst officials still trying to determine how to meet a 6% year-over-year assessment increase in the regional schools budget, which has already been approved by Town Meetings in Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett, Town Manager Paul Bockelman this week suggested to the Finance Committee that the needed $355,440, to meet an $18.8 million assessment, could come from ARPA money.

“We’re looking at ARPA, quite frankly, as the primary source,” Bockelman said.

Bockelman’s budget proposal includes an $18.48 million appropriation for the regional schools, a $710,881, or 4% increase, over this year’s $17.77 million assessment, which meets guidelines provided by the Town Council, but is short of the 6% increase recommended by the Regional School Committee as a way to minimize staff reductions.

Councilors who serve on the Finance Committee appeared receptive to using the ARPA money in this way. The $1 million pending allocation of ARPA was to have been used to extend the solar canopy to cover more of the parking lot at the new elementary school, to be built next to Fort River School on South East Street, and would lower long-term energy costs for that new building.

Bockelman said councilors have the authority to override his budget proposal by a two-thirds vote, and to make cuts elsewhere in the budget as they see fit to make up the difference. But he said he would recommend against cuts in other places, such as reducing what is going to Other Post Employment Benefits, which could harm the town’s bond rating and increase borrowing costs.

With cuts not possible, this means the only viable sources to close the gap in the school assessment are one-time funding sources, Bockelman said.

“It’s not a good plan to be funding operating budgets with one-time money, it’s a bad plan, but we recognize the situation we’re in and recognize the constraints the School Committee is in,” Bockelman said, adding that the “extenuating circumstances” led him to propose using ARPA money.

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District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen said that she had hoped for a range of options for funding the regional schools budget, observing that the ARPA money for solar also provides federal rebates, making it a “phenomenal investment.”

“If there are alternatives, will the council have an opportunity to weigh in?” Schoen asked.

At-Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke said there are line items in the town, schools and library budgets that could be cut to make up the $355,000, and she said she worries that redirecting ARPA money could mean a one-year boost for the regional schools budget, while losing out on 20 to 30 years of reduced operating costs at the elementary school.

Finance Committee member Bernie Kubiak said he worries about decisions that would affect the town’s bond rating and borrowing costs.

Bridget Hynes, a member of the School Committee, said she doesn’t like the idea of using the ARPA money to cover the budget gap. Hynes said Amherst officials should be prioritizing school needs, as they are out of proportion to anything seen before in education.

At-Large Councilor Andy Steinberg said he would like to get through fiscal year 2025 and would encourage school officials to adjust the way they propose spending plans due to continued crises that exhaust everyone.

“I think it’s time for the School Committee and school administration to think about a different methodology for beginning the budget discussion,” Steinberg said. “This has created a crisis year after year.”

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