SustainableAmherst.org has reviewed the voting records of all Town Meeting members against 34 specific benchmark votes that we feel impacted fiscal sustainability for Amherst. (see bottom for list of benchmark votes).
We have listed for every Town Meeting member the following data:
Term Expires = When is this member up for re-election
Attendance Record = A good amount of life is about just showing up!
SustainableAmherst Voting Record = How the member has voted on the fiscal sustainability votes we have benchmarked.
SustainableAmherst Rating = Based on their votes, we calculated a Rating for each member (see bottom for formula).
- Above-zero rating means that this member voted favorably for a fiscally sustainable Amherst over half the time.
- Below zero means they did not.
- n/a means they had less than 3 votes cast, so we did not apply a rating.
How Did We Analyze the Vote?
Well, first off, thanks to Stephanie and Jonathan O'Keeffe's fabulous website, TallyVotes.org, for the voting data. You can put together your own analysis of TM using their website!
We chose 28 of the recorded (tally) votes from Town Meeting over the past 5 years that were good indicators of whether a member was voting for or against an Amherst that could be fiscally sustainable to support strong schools and services. Below are the votes.
List of Votes Used in Analysis
| TM | # | Article Description | TM | sa.org |
| 2009 Fall | 9 | Change Medical Office Zoning in PRPs | Yes | Yes |
| 2009 Spring | 7 | Extend the Municipal Parking District | Yes | Yes |
| 2009 Spring | 9 | Adopt Mullin Rule - Allow member of a board who misses one meeting to vote | Yes | Yes |
| 2009 Spring | 22 | Increase Community Services Budget by $24,000 | No | No |
| 2009 Spring | 22 | Finance Committee amount for Elementary Schools | Yes | Yes |
| 2009 Spring | 22 | Increase Library Appropriation by $34,000 | No | No |
| 2009 Spring | 27 | Finance Committee amount for Capital Budget Buildings & Facilities | Yes | Yes |
| 2008 Fall |
10 | Rezone LI district to allow offices with visits by appointment |
Yes | Yes |
| 2008 Spring |
12 | Approriate the amount recommended by the Finance Committee for the Planning, Conservation, and Inspection Services |
Yes | Yes |
| 2008 Spring |
12 | Increase the Community Services budget by $29k |
No | No |
| 2008 Spring |
12 | Increase the Library budget by $11k |
No | No |
| 2008 Spring |
26 | Change Zoning of 500-502 Sunderland Road |
No | Yes |
| 2008 Spring |
24 | Put a 3% increase in the CPA tax on the town-wide ballot | Yes | No |
| 2007 Spring |
17 |
Amendment to cut $100k to the proposed public safety budget, against the recommendation of the finance committee. |
No | No |
| 2007 Spring |
17 |
Amendment to add $12k to the proposed conservation budget for trail maintenance, against the recommendation of the finance committee. |
No | No |
| 2007 Spring |
17 |
Amendment to add $117k to the proposed community services budget to fund private agencies, against the recommendation of the finance committee. |
No | No |
| 2007 Spring |
17 |
Amendment to add $125k to the proposed elementary schools budget, against the recommendation of the finance committee. |
No | No |
| 2007 Spring |
17 |
Amendment to add $119k to the proposed regional schools budget, against the recommendation of the finance committee. |
No | Yes |
| 2007 Spring |
17 |
Amendment to add $71k to the proposed community services budget to pay for War Memorial Pool, against the recommendation of the finance committee. |
No | No |
| 2007 Spring |
17 | Amendment to add $19k to the proposed library budget, against the recommendation of the finance committee. |
No | No |
| 2007 Spring |
33 | Creates a town law regulating exterior lighting to protect the night sky. | No | No |
| 2007 Fall |
12 | Attempt to kill an article that will change zoning to allow certain light accessory manufacturing in appropriate zones to promote economic development. |
Yes | No |
| 2007 Fall |
15 | Change zoning downtown to allow hotels without a special permit to promote economic development. | No | Yes |
| 2007 Fall |
1 | Change zoning to allow client visits to offices in PRP and R-VC zones to promote economic development. | Yes | Yes |
| 2007 Fall |
16 | Change zoning for Rt.9 and South East street to promote economic development. | Yes | Yes |
| 2006 Spring |
31 | Appropriate monies to pay for the Master Plan. | Yes | Yes |
| 2006 Spring |
26 | Amendment to add $90k to the proposed transportation budget to fund low-ridership bus routes, against the finance committee recommendation. |
Yes | No |
| 2006 Spring |
26 | Amendment to add a chunk of money to the proposed Community Services Budget for private agencies, against the finance committee recommendation. |
Yes | No |
| 2006 Spring |
26 | Amendment to cut $28k from the proposed Public Safety Budget, against the finance committee recommendation. | No | No |
| 2006 Spring |
23 | Change the zoning of Professional Research Park (PRP) zones to allow client visits to offices. | No | Yes |
| 2006 Spring |
22 | Change the zoning of South East Street to low density to prevent a high-density housing development. |
No | No |
| 2006 Spring |
21 | Change the zoning of Rt. 9 and Southeast Street to allow economic development. |
No | Yes |
| 2006 Spring |
12 | Provide Municipal Employee Status to volunteer members of town committees so that they can't be sued. |
Yes | Yes |
| 2005 Fall |
25 | Motion to dismiss Agricultural rezoning which would rezone a chunk of town to prevent economic development. |
Yes | Yes |
| 2005 Fall |
23 | Remove Select Board from Planning Committee motion to preserve the Planning Committee's independence. | No | Yes |
| 2005 Fall |
10 | Amendment to add $20k to the transportation budget to develop a bicycle plan for town. | No | No |
| 2005 Fall |
7 | Transfer Wentworth farm to conservation forever without any compensation.l | No | No |
| 2005 Spring |
2 | Create an Ad-Hoc committee to review public uses of private land that is already under contract to be developed into apartments by JPI (from Hope Church). This committee would torpedo the deal and prevent economic development. |
Yes |
No |
| 2005 Spring |
36 | Appropriate $107,500 for Plum Brook athletic fields. | Yes | Yes |
| 2004 Fall |
19 | Appropriate $600,000 for downtown sidewalk and lighting improvements. |
No | Yes |
| 2004 Spring |
38 | Recommend that Select Board reverse decision to raise the Town Manaer's salary. | Yes | No |
SustainableAmherst Rating
The rating was calculated by +1 point for every vote that agreed with the SustainableAmherst list of votes (above) and -1 point for every vote that did not. There were 34 votes - not all members were in Town Meeting or present for every vote - so there is a maximum score of +34 to -34 for the ratings.
- An above zero rating indicates the member voted the SustainableAmherst way over half the time (+34 is a fiscally sustainable rock star, agreeing with every position!).
- A below zero rating indicates the member voted against a SustainableAmherst more than half the time (-34 completely disagrees with every SustainableAmherst philosophy).