Finance Committee Recommends $565,000 in Transfers

Finance Committee · Meeting of July 21, 2026

Amherst's Finance Committee unanimously recommended $565,000 in appropriations to the Town Council, covering PFAS testing, Wildwood School's reopening and a new Pelham service deal. The panel backed $224,000 in operating funds and $100,000 in capital funds, drawn from unspent school capital articles, to keep Wildwood usable after the School Committee's vote to return the building to the town September 1. Member Cathleen Mitchell warned the funding mechanism makes the cost "not visible anywhere" in the town budget, while another member called the roughly $40,000-per-employee operating cost "quite high." The committee also approved $140,000 from the PFAS settlement fund for water monitoring and $101,000 to staff a new treasurer-collector position serving Pelham under a one-year pilot agreement, paying Amherst a $101,000 fee including a $2,000 administrative charge.

Staff said the Town Council could act as soon as August 17.

In the full story:

• Opening and New Member
• PFAS Special Revenue Fund Appropriation
• Wildwood School Operating and Capital Funding
• Pelham Treasurer-Collector Services Agreement
• Scheduling of Financial Policies Review
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,019 words

Source: the Finance Committee meeting of July 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.