Top Of Their Class Still

Amherst College Greenway Project this fine Sunday morning

I don't think anybody is going to feel overly bad for Amherst College being reduced from a AAA to merely a AA+ by Standard & Poor's so they now share, gasp, the same bond rating as the town they are named after.

After all, they still have $2.2 billion in their endowment.  Yes that's billion with a b as opposed to only $9 million the town has in its reserves. 

The cause of the slight crack in their financial armor is the increased debt load, a mere $330 million, brought on by reinvesting in infrastructure, mainly the new Greenway Project.

The four new dorms should be open in the fall of 2016 and the $200 million, 230,000 square foot science center project will get underway, again.

Last year Amherst College donated $120,000 to the town to cover Amherst Fire Department emergency runs to their campus.

And AC does pay taxes on all the one and two family homes it owns and rents out to professors so in that respect they also help fund the huge pubic education costs in Amherst, which consume the lion's share of the municipal budget.  In fact, Amherst College is the #1 taxpayer in town.

But there was some grumbling at the recent Community Preservation Act Committee meeting in regards to a $200,000 request for a fire suppression system at the Amherst College owned Dickinson Museum complex.

Since CPA money can only be used for certain things, perhaps the town can work out a kick back deal whereby Amherst College donates 75 cents to the General Fund for every CPA dollar they are awarded.

Representative Stephen Kulik has a bill pending in the legislature to allow cities and towns to tax private tax-exempt entities like Amherst College at 25% of their assessed value.

Vince O'Connor has started a one-man crusade to get Amherst College to contribute more Payment In Lieu Of Taxes, specifically to relieve pressure on the Regional School Budget.

 Vince O'Connor on the attack, December 7th SB meeting

His theory is Amherst College would be wise to sign a multi-year donation deal now before the state makes it a requirement.

Kind of like working out a divorce settlement with a mediator rather than allowing a probate judge to make the call.

Hadley Barn Fire

Hadley has distinctive yellow apparatus

Surround and drown

Despite the best efforts of Hadley, Northampton, Sunderland and South Hadley fire departments the beast  completely consumed a Hadley barn immediately off River Road (Rt 47) not far from the scene of another barn fire just over the town line in Sunderland six weeks ago.

Fortunately there were no injuries to man or beast.

The fire spread to an adjacent brushy/wooded area, but was quickly controlled

A Timely Audit

Amherst Media needs to relocate to a new building within the next year

In addition to the bombshell about UMass possibly being a cable scofflaw dropped at last week's Cable Advisory Committee Meeting, Amherst Media Director Jim Lescault requested the CAC authorize a five year audit of Comcast revenues.

Because Amherst Media funding (around $300K annually) consists of 5% of the Comcast pie (around $6 million annually) for every dollar the audit turns up that was, err, hidden that would be five cents in revenue to Amherst Media.

Of course there is the matter of the $28,000 cost of the audit, which could be reduced significantly if other cities and towns join in. 

 Most recent Comcast quarterly revenue report

But the audit doesn't necessarily need to turn up hidden revenues that match the cost of the audit, since the hard to measure benefit is the negotiation value of catching Comcast doing something unseemly.  Not that enormous corporations are known to do that (sarcasm).

The Cable Advisory Committee voted to support the legal services request but it will be up to the Select Board to make it so.

Cable Advisory Committee meeting 12/14/15.  One member resigned so they are in need of a new volunteer

The Grass Is Greener

Amherst may move up a notch or two in those ubiquitous top ten lists for places to retire if we get our first pot dispensary.  Medical marijuana of course.

The Select Board packet this week contains a heads up letter from Peter Kadens, president GTI Massachusetts NP Corp informing Chair Alisa Brewer that our little college town is being considered for a Registered Marijuana Dispensary. 

Massachusetts voters legalized medical marijuana in 2012 and a year later our Town Meeting passed (by two thirds vote) zoning article 13 limiting such facilities to mixed-use or business zoned areas and a few other common sense conditions.

New England Treatment Access was the first dispensary to open in the Happy Valley back in October, and was welcomed with open arms by Northampton officials. 

Pundits are predicting Massachusetts voters could legalize recreational marijuana as early as next year.

A Third Of A Loaf?

 Historic North Common now home to the Merry Maple

Even though the state recently turned Amherst down for a $400,000 Parkland Acquisitions & Renovations for Communities grant to rehabilitate historic North Common in the heart of our downtown, the project may not be dead.

In a letter to the Community Preservation Act Committee, Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek proposed putting the $190,000 appropriated last year as (less than) matching funds to the PARC grant still be used for the project, with the balance of the funding coming over the next few years from CPA funds.

 Click to enlarge/read

The CPAC was receptive to the idea, but the consensus was it needed to go back to Town Meeting since their approval last year for the $190K appropriation was based on acquiring the PARC grant for the lion's share of the project costs.

Of course some members wondered if perhaps the Business Improvement District, with its $315,265 annual budget, could shoulder some of the funding.  

The CPA Committee currently has $1.7 million at their disposal, not including the $190,000 set aside last year for the North Common historic preservation project.  Proposed (13) projects for FY17 total $2,125,520.

Burn In Hell

First Congregational Church on Main Street is one of many historic buildings in Amherst

In their first meeting since receiving over $2 million in funding requests the Community Preservation Act Committee already started digging in with an overall review of the 13 proposals.

Over the next few months each proposal will be formally presented to them by petitioners at a public meeting, although there was talk last night about eliminating some that stand little chance of garnering their approval.

For instance, the Committee was cool to the request from the First Congregational Church for $357,647 for a fire suppression system and Chair Mary Streeter said she had already received two letters opposing the project.

Besides the enormous amount of money one member worried it would set a precedent and soon the CPAC would be flooded with requests for just such a system.  He pointed out Amherst has a lot of historic structures.

Another liaison questioned the "partner" aspect of the proposal wondering if they just randomly picked something on their wish list that might fall under CPAC jurisdiction for the town to fund, while they pay for elevator, electrical system upgrades and added restrooms.

Select Board member Andy Steinberg pointed out the Committee did fund the Goodwin Memorial  Zion Church last year, although a lot smaller request ($25,000), so separation of Church & State is not an issue.

But Mary Streeter quickly pointed out Town Meeting, after CPAC gave it their blessing, voted down $8,000 for repairs to North Church in the heart of North Amherst.

 The Evergreens (bottom), Dickinson Homestead (top right)

The parallel $200,000  request from the  Emily Dickinson Museum for a fire suppression system in the Evergreens next door to the Dickinson Homestead was also not overly enthusiastically received.

Chair Mary Streeter wondered if the unknown donor who planned to match the CPA money was perhaps the owner of the building, Amherst College, who is the town's largest landowner with an endowment surpassing $2 billion.

Ms. Streeter was also unhappy the request proposal never mentioned the previous CPA money ($15,000) donated to them in their background report to the committee which she thought a tad ungrateful.

Members were also concerned over the Museum charging an entry fee and wondered if they did donate this money would Amherst residents be given free entry in perpetuity?

Other members pointed out the Dickinson name should be such that donated funding could be found from other sources.

Funding requests for FY17 total $2,125,520 and Comptroller Sonia Aldrich verified the current balance in the CPAC account --  with about 20% of that representing state matching funds -- stands at $1,778,747 so the Committee doesn't exactly have money to burn.

Let The Battle Begin

Adam Lussier, Amherst For All (left) Town Clerk Sandra Burgess (right)

As of 4:30 PM Amherst Town Clerk Sandra Burgess has certified 3,247 signatures on the Charter petition drive to put before the voters this spring the question of changing our form of local governance and the election of 9 Charter Commissioners to carry out that long overdue proposition.

The monumental task required the signatures of 15% of Amherst registered voters, or 3,215.

But Amherst For All is not exactly popping the champagne bottles and collapsing in a happy heap.

Instead they are calling for one more massive push Saturday to continue collecting signatures as a cushion against what is sure to be a challenge from pro-Town Meeting zealots.

On Monday, hopefully with hundreds of additional signatures, one of the members of the Steering Committee will sign a statement with the Town Clerk saying they are done with signature collection.

The Board of Registrars has ten days from the 12/21 date of the final submission to certify signatures and issue a Certification Report, which is December 31.  Objectors wishing to challenge signatures have two "working days" from December 31st, which gives them a deadline of January 5, 2016 (because January 1, 2 and 3 are not working days) by 5:00 PM.

The hurdle for disqualifying signatures is a high one, and thus far no one in the entire history of the town has ever successfully overturned a ballot question or candidate nomination using a signature challenge. 

Click to enlarge/read