Recreation Train Wreck

Leisure Services & Supplemental Education website (note outdated pool event) 

If Amherst Police, Fire and DPW departments suddenly vanished, chaos would soon ensue. But should our recreation department disappear, most people would not even notice...and the private sector would quickly and easily fill the void.

In addition to the $43,000 lost last fiscal year on the luxurious game of golf, the recreation department--also known as Leisure Services and Supplemental Education--lost an additional $92,792 on other sport/fitness programming.

Overall LSSE expenses topped $1.1 million with revenues at $977,514...far short of break even .  This $122, 486 in red ink combined with the $197,000 hidden cost of employee benefits, paid from a separate part of the town operating budget, brings losses last year to a whopping $319,486.  For RECREATION.

And this is far from an anomaly as LSSE budget deficits demonstrate a downward trend over the past few years.  Unlike the decline of the Roman Empire, the excuse will be weather and the economy. 

Last spring Town Meeting approved a new $400,000 revolving fund for LSSE "after school programs". The schools kicked out private programs that had been in place for a generation and cost the taxpayers nothing, to be replaced by this same failing business model. 

Interestingly the government sponsored program at Crocker Farm--"Prime Time"-- that had been competing head-to-head with the private "Crocker Care", missed budget projections by a significant amount (budgeted at $27,000 but only generating $15,000).

If LSSE can't handle recreation--its core business for 30 years now--how well is this expensive new after school business going to fare?

Another hidden cost of government sponsored programs is that they are tax exempt.  Simply put, private business generates tax income while government programs consume them.

For instance, Hampshire Athletic Club, which has to unfairly compete with LSSE rec programs, paid the town $36,000 last year in property taxes.  And their employees are for the most part full-time professionals trying to make a living at sports/recreation rather than the part-time, independent contractors LSSE relies on.

Even tax exempt Amherst College paid the town $8,000 in property taxes for their Amherst Golf Course which competes with the Cherry Hill Golf Course, a ravenous White Elephant that required taxpayer bail outs of over $1 million to cover operational losses over the past ten years.

Government is vital for providing essential services--especially relating to public safety.  Recreation is a different matter altogether.

Why should hard pressed senior citizens living on a fixed income subsidize the recreational activities of the few who can--for the most part--afford to pay the actual cost of their "leisure services"?

Last year's losing financial spreadsheet

Green, Green Grass of Home

 Swaths of brown mar our beautiful town common

One of the hidden costs of allowing free use of the town common for major public events is the resulting turf damage, an ugly open sore like a hot spot on your dog.

Since the Taste of Amherst, town Fair and Extravaganja Pot Rally all enjoyed usually nice weather this past spring, the damage now showing is probably from the previous year when Mother Nature was not nearly as nice.

Our overstretched DPW is busy with construction all over town. Hopefully town officials will appreciate the "curb appeal" of a quaint--fully green--New England town common before Labor Day, when tsunami gates open to allow the students return.

Amherst Creperie craps out

 Amherst Creperie, 19 North Pleasant Street

So if you are a downtown Amherst business struggling even before heading into the Dog Days of Summer--when the college students have migrated away--the hot weather only adds jet fuel to the slow burn. And then, puff, you're gone.

Yes, this particular location is one of the highest per square foot rents in Amherst, so you better be exceedingly good with what you offer. And with Antonio's Pizza only three doors down, it probably should not be food related.

The Daily Collegian reported

Fade to Black (top)

 Big Y supermarket entrance University Drive

The road renovation/redesign at the Big Y entrance on University Drive commenced last year and only finished last month when the new traffic control signals finally switched on.  So some of you may be wondering why the white traffic lane markings are already fading?

According to one of our engineers, "There is a lot of remaining oils in the fresh pavement so the new paint doesn’t stick very well."  Which is why the state always uses thermoplastic, a special heavy duty goo that adheres better than paint, lasts five to ten times longer and is more visible...but is of course more expensive. 

And some would say a tad too slippery when wet.

No not to your car, but to bicycles and pedestrians.   A few years ago the DPW installed bike lanes around town using thermoplastic and were roundly criticized by a bicycle enthusiast or two about the lines being slippery when wet.

So ever since, when the town does a road project, the markings are made with cheap paint that easily fades: By Sisyphus with a paint brush.

Main Street Molasses

 Main Street Gauntlet

If you are heading all the way to the top of Pelham Hill from Amherst town center you now have to negotiate a new--yet another--road construction project that started today:  Resurfacing Main Street, which of course leads directly to Amherst Road.

And yes, Amherst Road is closed during weekday business hours for a sewer line construction project.

Warner Brothers won the bid for the Main Street renovation, and like almost all the projects around town it's expected to be completed by the end of the month.  The town is using Community Development Block Grant funds ($ from heaven) to pay for it.   

Meanwhile everyone keeps saying Atkins Corner second roundabout will be open for traffic by August 15.  But then town officials also said the War Memorial Pool would be open June 23rd, then June 30, then... stopped making predictions.

Let's hope this time they are correct.

Coffee Hiatus

 Dunkin' Donuts, College Street (Rt. 9)

UPDATE (Saturday morning):  Open for business already. The drive up anyway.  Too bad the state did not move this swiftly.

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Like almost everything else in Amherst the Dunkin' Donuts on College Street is under construction, although unlike the Hess Express in South Amherst (which has a Dunkin' satellite operation) they are closed until the job is complete, presumably by September when the population of Amherst about doubles.

The successful franchise opened ten years ago and was the first non bank related business in Amherst to utilize a drive up window.

Saturday morning 8/4/12

Ax The Tax

 Downtown Amherst commercial sector (try not to blink)

Now that the state has, finally, tweaked the Community Preservation Act to allow commercial real estate the same $100,000 exemption of valuation as regular homeowners , the Select Board should place the question on the ballot for the next election and allow the voters to make it so.

I've never been a big fan of the CPA simply because a) it's a tax b) public officials use it like manna from heaven and c) it discriminated against business by not allowing the same exemption given to homeowners.

The commercial sector in Amherst is infinitesimally small, representing only 10% of the tax base.   So the exemption is not going to cost the town greatly, only $7,000.  And those funds can be made up by redirecting money taken in via the local option hotel/meals tax, another burden on business that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Downtown businesses have also just taken on an increase to their property tax rates to fund the fledgling Business Improvement District, so a little relief could not come at a better time.

Amherst has a well earned anti-business reputation. A symbolic gesture like this may not erase that scarlet letter...but it's a start.