On May 2, Amherst voters are being asked to approve a debt exclusion as part of the cost of building our first new elementary school in 50 years, replacing Fort River and Wildwood schools.

Many questions have been asked and most are answered here: www.amherst-school-project.com/faq. Learn about the serious condition of those elementary schools today at youtube.com/watch?v=9-vk7c_Zbso, and what the proposed new elementary school looks like at www.amherst-school-project.com/about-the-project/.

However, in talking with many voters over the past several months, the one question we consistently heard is, “What happens if the debt-exclusion vote fails?”

The school project is one part of a much larger plan to resolve what we call the “Big Four” capital needs that have dogged us for decades: renovating and expanding the Jones Library; replacing our overcrowded and outmoded 94-year-old Central Fire Station with a facility south of downtown; and replacing our deteriorating Public Works building, which began life as a trolley barn 105-years ago.

Our capital needs have been put off, then put off again. They have not gone away while we waited, but instead have become increasingly urgent.

For more than a decade, town leaders have worked to deal with these problems. Every solution has always included a debt-exclusion vote for the biggest piece of the puzzle: a new elementary school.

It’s a lot to ask for, especially at a time of high inflation and financial uncertainty. So, we’ve done everything we can to reduce the impact on taxpayers and renters. We’ve secured a rare second chance for state help for the school, and at an even higher level. We’ve reduced the scope of all the projects. And we stretched out the timeline for some projects.

But if we don’t vote “yes,” the cascading effects will be devastating: We will lose the $40.5 million in state grant funding for the school and have to use our own town money to repair Wildwood and Fort River, estimated at $80 million.

Some have suggested that we use the money committed for the Jones Library project. However, because of a different state grant, and significant fundraising that includes federal and additional state dollars, we can spend the $15.8 million of town money voted for the Jones Library as part of the total package for renovation and addition, or spend the same amount of town money or more on repairing the existing library while losing the state grant and additional funds.

And, finally, we will have to put off indefinitely our other capital priorities, including a new fire/EMS station south of downtown; a new DPW building; and our roads and sidewalks.

We can get ahead of the problems of five antiquated town buildings, including two schools, by building one exciting, carbon neutral, pedagogically sound elementary school to replace our aging and deteriorating elementary schools at Wildwood and Fort River.

We were on our way to taking responsibility for these longstanding problems when COVID hit and construction costs and interest rates skyrocketed. Even with all that we can still do it, but it is a fragile framework. Everything depends on a “yes” vote for the proposed new elementary school. If the school vote fails, we will pass on today’s problems onto future generations, and at a much higher cost.

Voting “yes” for the proposed new elementary school is educationally, environmentally and fiscally sound. It is one of the most important opportunities we have to make a difference for the future of Amherst.

We will not see this moment again. We hope you will agree that we should pass on to the next generation a 21st-century school rather than intractable problems.

Lynn Griesemer is a District 2 councilor and president of the Amherst Town Council. Andy Steinberg is an at-large tcouncilor and chair of the Finance Committee.