Finance Committee weighs FY28 budget shortfall

Finance Committee · Meeting of October 20, 2026

Amherst's Finance Committee opened fiscal year 2028 budget guideline talks, bracing for a roughly $1 million gap if revenue growth lands near 2.5 percent. Chair Cathy Schoen said the committee needs hard numbers on health insurance, wage, and pension cost increases before drafting guidelines, calling it a tighter year than usual: "We've had more breathing room in the time I've been on the Finance Committee than we're going to have this year." Auditor Tanya Campbell delivered a clean, "unmodified" fiscal year 2025 audit opinion, reporting a $16 million unrestricted general fund balance and a pension liability that fell to just over $40 million, with one minor finding involving about $63,000 in misdated special education grant expenses. Finance staff reported first-quarter spending at 24.6 percent of budget and flagged rising electricity costs as the year's biggest risk.

The Town Council's first read of the guidelines moved to December 7, with a vote set for December 21.

In the full story:

• FY25 Financial Audit Presentation and Discussion
• FY27 First Quarter Report
• FY28 Budget Guidelines Discussion
• Finance Committee Schedule
• Adjournment
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,718 words

Source: the Finance Committee meeting of October 20, 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.