AMHERST — Even with contested races for townwide offices, and a referendum on the Jones Library renovation and expansion on the town election ballot in November, the town’s two political action committees both spent less than $4,200, according to year-end financial reports.

Amherst Forward and the Progressive Coalition of Amherst recently submitted their 2021 campaign finance reports that, by state law, had to be received by the town clerk’s office by Jan. 20.

The Progressive Coalition, which formed last year, spent $4,158, all of which went to Adams Direct Mail Services in Greenfield for mailers sent to all voters.

Amherst Forward, the town’s first PAC, spent $3,916, with the largest amount, $1,587, going to HotCards in Cleveland, Ohio for postage and mailing services, and an additional $1,005 paid to to Collective Copies in Amherst for flyers, pledge forms, handout cards and a banner. Other expenses included assorted payments for PayPal fees and website maintenance.

In terms of money collected, Amherst Forward took in $5,898, most of which came from small donations, with 128 individuals listed on its forms. With the PAC requesting donors cap their contributions at $52 per person, the two largest donations were $104 from resident James Miller and $102 from resident Gavin Andresen, with some Amherst couples maxing out their contributions at $104.

The PAC does not accept contributions from businesses or out-of-town residents.

The Progressive Coalition collected $4,356 from donors, as well as an in-kind contribution of $154 from Vincent O’Connor, who ran for an at-large council seat. It tended to have larger donors, with Chairwoman Pat Ononibaku giving $300; $500 coming from former District 5 Councilor Darcy DuMont; $500 apiece from residents Terry Johnson, Christina Platt and Demetria Shabazz; $350 from T. Stephen Jones of Florence; $250 from resident Peggy Matthews Nilsen; and $200 from resident Sarah McKee.

In a statement, Ononibaku said that since the Progressive Coalition was a new political action committee, it focused on outreach and fundraising to support its endorsed candidates for Town Council and School Committee.

“In alignment with our mission to make Amherst a more inclusive town, our priority was to make campaign literature available to every Amherst household, not just a subset of the population,” Ononibaku said. “To that end, the majority of our fundraising dollars went to a direct mailing campaign with our full slate of candidates.”

Ononibaku also noted that the PAC benefited from in-kind donations of printing costs from volunteers canvassing for candidates who were endorsed.

Amherst Forward chairwoman Katherine Appy said the group produced voter education materials about the ballot initiative to renovate and expand the Jones Library, and materials to share information about endorsed candidates for Town Council and School Committee. But no direct donations were made to candidates.

“We have a responsibility to our community and our elected officials to uphold the democratic process, both through our campaigning and in our management of campaign contributions,” Appy said. “From our inception, we have identified transparency as one of our top organizational values, so we work very hard to ensure that every dollar we raise is accounted for throughout the year.”

Two ballot question committees were also formed in advance of the election, in which the library project won support from voters. Yes for Our Library spent $5,172 and Start Over Smart spent $4,108.