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More Community Corner Citizens group outlines budget scenarios
As Amherst officials begin work on a budget for fiscal 2010, they have a new resource to draw on: an 89-page report that includes extensive research into community attitudes toward budget cuts and tax increases.
The report is the work of the town’s Facilitation of Community Choices Committee, a panel of 10 private citizens that town officials appointed last spring. Select Board Chair Stephanie O’Keeffe said the panel included both advocates for and opponents of an override attempt that narrowly failed in May 2007.
O’Keeffe said the report, delivered to the Select Board and Finance Committee on Dec. 1, contains “a treasure trove of budget data and analysis that will serve as a guide to budget policy now and into the future.”
The first task of the committee, which began meeting last May, was to assemble data for five budget entities: town government, the elementary schools, the regional schools, the library, and the joint capital plan. For each of these, the committee created three five-year budget scenarios: “Level Funding,” (the level of services that could be sustained based on current revenue projections); “Level Services” (the cost of maintaining services at their current level); and “Priority Restorations and Additions” (reflecting spending beyond current levels).
In the fall, committee members held a series of forums in which the different budget scenarios were explained, work that O’Keeffe described as extremely useful in educating the public about the challenges Amherst faces.
More than 400 residents filled out questionnaires to gauge their preferences and priorities; more than half of respondents included written comments describing their ideas for dealing with budget challenges.
“The survey results suggest that people want to maintain and in some cases expand services,” O’Keeffe said. “At the same time, because the financial situation is so bad right now, it would take a very large infusion of revenue to allow us to stay at that level.”
The full report can be downloaded at www.amherstma.gov.
More Community Corner Citizens group outlines budget scenarios
Citizens group outlines budget scenarios
As Amherst officials begin work on a budget for fiscal 2010, they have a new resource to draw on: an 89-page report that includes extensive research into community attitudes toward budget cuts and tax increases.
The report is the work of the town’s Facilitation of Community Choices Committee, a panel of 10 private citizens that town officials appointed last spring. Select Board Chair Stephanie O’Keeffe said the panel included both advocates for and opponents of an override attempt that narrowly failed in May 2007.
O’Keeffe said the report, delivered to the Select Board and Finance Committee on Dec. 1, contains “a treasure trove of budget data and analysis that will serve as a guide to budget policy now and into the future.”
The first task of the committee, which began meeting last May, was to assemble data for five budget entities: town government, the elementary schools, the regional schools, the library, and the joint capital plan. For each of these, the committee created three five-year budget scenarios: “Level Funding,” (the level of services that could be sustained based on current revenue projections); “Level Services” (the cost of maintaining services at their current level); and “Priority Restorations and Additions” (reflecting spending beyond current levels).
In the fall, committee members held a series of forums in which the different budget scenarios were explained, work that O’Keeffe described as extremely useful in educating the public about the challenges Amherst faces.
More than 400 residents filled out questionnaires to gauge their preferences and priorities; more than half of respondents included written comments describing their ideas for dealing with budget challenges.
“The survey results suggest that people want to maintain and in some cases expand services,” O’Keeffe said. “At the same time, because the financial situation is so bad right now, it would take a very large infusion of revenue to allow us to stay at that level.”
The full report can be downloaded at www.amherstma.gov.
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
