Your Messages...

I was pleased to get your flyer the other day, read through some of it before voting. Sad to say I voted no on almost everything with the exception of items where the town actually attenpts to save up funds for anticipated needed expenditures. I can only hope other voters did the same. Since voting I have read everything on your site and agree with the conclusions. I found your discussion on the use of unassinged/undesginated funds enlightening. Same is true for the defining exactly what is meant by a default budget.

can't wait to see the voting results.

One angle of thought that I don't know if a lot of residents are considering is that most of us are due for re-assessment on our properties. By my rough calculation, if all warrant articles are voted in, my taxes will go up $2,158--from $7529 to $9687, roughly a 28% increase.

Now a re-assessment may take my property much higher based on a few factors, but also nearby sales at the current stratospheric market prices could take my personal evaluation from $344k to over $500k (TWICE what I paid for it over a decade ago!)

If that becomes reality, my tax bill would jump to over $14,000... or almost DOUBLE what I pay today (roughly ~$625/mo. would go to around $1166/mo. in this scenario.)

I realize these are worst case/doomsday numbers, and certainly estimated, but the reality is this is not an impossible outcome for many residents.

The impact of the vote on these items, especially Article 22, will price many single-income families, senior citizens, disabled, veterans, etc. out of town.

The creators and contributors have done a great job in providing digestable data--a major aid in making decisions on the warrant. One of the articles referred to the high percentage (80% ?) that do not have children is school. In my case, my younges finished at MASH in 1988 before AHS. If the rate of RE taxes continues to be over 10% per year, a likely outcome would be to sell and find a slightly lower community. Such action would be more than sad for an Amherst resident of 41 years.

I love this community and would prefer to stay until my last breath, however, inflation and RE taxes could well require an unwanted change.

In closing, thank you all once again for approaching the tax matters in a clear, data driven manner.

I suggest that much of the inertia around school issues throughout all grades in Amherst is the unacknowledged tolerance of the overarching education philosophy, that being the Great Schools philosophy, which began with a charismatic principal and leader back in the 1970s or so. It is laudable for its humanistic values and emphasis on respecting individual differences, but I fear it is simply much more expensive than it is worth, relative to the student outcomes it has enabled over the years. In particular, the added administrative costs for daily advisories, and ancillary support staffing. Wouldn't a more traditional approach that could still honor the values of the Great School philosophy but execute it without the administrative bloat and loss of teaching time from daily advisories cost significantly less? I think this philosophy permeates the system, all grades, with significantly more administrative staff than is necessary, i.e. 2 vice prin @ mid school.

It would be great if there was a way to print the tax estimator after you load the data. I am unable to do it.

Thanks,

Rodd

Thank you for putting this website together and sending the flyer out. Eternally grateful to your team and huge contribution to help keep our taxes affordable.

Got your flyer in my mailbox and just read your entire site. thank you! VERY HELPFUL. I wasn't going to even vote on March 12th bc I feel the residents are not listened to even when we vote something down. Your info has given me renewed hope & I now know which candidate I will vote for as well as how I'll vote for the articles. I had thrown up my hands. Thank you for bringing me back around!

I received your communication in my mailbox today and completely agree with your positions. I served on the Amherst School Ways & Means Committee from 2000-2009 and chaired it for 2 years.

What is missing in the voter guide is the current and projected enrollment, as that was the key criteria I wanted to see when reviewing the proposed budget each year.

Thank you

Hello All -

Thank you for putting this site together with a very straightforward approach to this important information.

I'm curious about the status of the ASD maintenance budget and any current projects underway...or are general improvement projects on hold in anticipation of a YES vote for a new structure? My husband and I do not appreciate the "political portable"in front of Wilkins school and wonder what other tactics the school district is trying to use.