Northampton and Amherst voters will elect Council and School Committee members on Nov 4, with Northampton also electing a mayor. They should expect clear answers to difficult budget questions and consider those answers when casting their votes.
Both communities are progressive, committed to quality education, concerned about the environment, support initiatives that improve the lives of all residents, and value art and recreation. The two communities also have limited resources for municipal government and must make difficult choices to support what we value most, not just in the next year but for the foreseeable future.
Massachusetts municipal governments rely on the property tax for the biggest share of their budgets: 60% in Northampton and 67% in Amherst. Twenty years ago that share was 51% in both communities. Why has it gone up? Because the other biggest share of revenues, state aid, has not kept up.
This leaves property taxes to make up the difference. But property taxes fall more heavily on people with lower incomes. People who rent their homes pay these taxes though their rents. Older residents have seen their taxes go up, but not their incomes. For young families just starting out, property taxes are just one more obstacle to overcome.
Total property tax increases on existing property are capped at 2.5% per year unless voters agree to an override, but there is a limit to what taxpayers can afford. Northampton voters passed overrides in 2010, 2014, and 2020. Amherst also passed three overrides, in 1992, 2005, and 2011. In all those cases the increases in the tax levy were permanent, reflected in today’s tax bills. Much of that money went for steady increases in school funding that would have otherwise not been possible.
In addition, Amherst voters passed a debt exclusion override in 2023 to construct a new elementary school, which will increase property taxes. Amherst already has the 15th highest residential tax rate of the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts. Councilors in both communities recognize that the case for additional overrides will have to be compelling.
After a period of low inflation, the cost to provide services in recent years has exceeded revenue growth. The increases in costs for both Northampton and Amherst have been driven by our greatest expense, salary and benefits of our municipal and school employees. Most salaries are determined by collective bargaining and the need to pay competitively to hire and retain qualified people. Benefits reflect the broader trend of skyrocketing health care costs.
The largest expense is education. In addition to increased costs for salaries and benefits, special education has increased in need and cost along with other expenses. Other revenue that supports schools, including aid from state and federal governments, has not increased commensurate with cost increases. School Committees and administrations have eliminated some programs and achieved efficiencies, but spending continues to rise faster than revenues.
Both communities have organizations and candidates in the 2025 elections who want more funding for education. They assert that more funds are available from financial reserves and enterprise funds. Enterprise funds, such as those providing water and sewer utilities, are self-funding operations that can’t pay for unrelated services. Financial reserves exist for specific purposes, to backstop for a funding crisis (such as the 2008 recession), and to build up the money needed to tackle infrastructure and other long-term projects. Northampton has already taken the calculated risk of pushing its revenue estimates higher to support school, public safety and public works operations, reducing its future surplus amounts and thus its ability to pay for future infrastructure. Given the uncertainty about federal funding to state and local governments, this is not the time to be taking more financial risks.
Equally important, financial reserves are one-time dollars. Using one-time funds to support salaries and other ongoing costs just puts budgets further out of balance and forces harsher decisions in the future.
We urge all candidates to clearly state their priorities and what they propose to eliminate to pay for their priorities. We encourage voters to demand answers to that question and to make final decisions about who will receive their vote based on the responses.
Alex Jarrett was elected as Ward 5 Councilor in Northampton in 2019 and is the current Council President. Andrew Steinberg was a member of the Amherst Select Board from 2014-18 and has served three terms as Councilor-at-Large. They are not seeking reelection in 2025.