Source: Union-News (Springfield, MA)
Author: MIKE PLAISANCE
AMHERST, MA – Town Manager Barry L. Del Castilho said yesterday he has avoided the politically unpopular step of having to ask Town Meeting members this spring to approve extra money for the over-budgeted, $5.8 million police station by finding other funds for some new costs.
Up to another $120,000 is needed for the installation of a new radio antenna to improve Police and Fire department dispatch services, as well as to move and install computer and phone equipment into the new police headquarters. The new station is under construction at Main and Churchill streets.
“For any new expense that arises, we are trying to fund it rather than ask for more money. I couldn’t deny that that could have been a difficult expense for Town Meeting to address,” Del Castilho said.
To meet the extra costs, the account used to buy new furnishings will be reduced from $200,000 to $140,000, providing $60,000. A budget maneuver has raised another $40,000. Storm drainage work done on Churchill Street benefits the town and not just the new police facility, so money for the work will be taken from the town-wide drainage fund and not the police budget, Del Castilho said.
He said he is still searching to fund the remaining amount of approximately $20,000.
Del Castilho said a total of between $112,000 and $120,000 in extra funds will be needed. He said he did not know the exact figure because the cost of some of the work, like installation of the antenna, will depend on bid prices received from contractors.
Del Castilho discussed the extra police station funds with the Finance Committee last week.
“I guess he just realized politically it wasn’t the thing to bring to Town Meeting. I think it’s good, because I think we’ve spent a lot on the police building,” Finance Committee member Janice D. Ratner said.
Ratner said the town might be able to use funds left over from renovation work being done at Bangs Community Center.
Approximately $15,000 will be needed to install a new radio antenna on Mount Lincoln in Pelham to improve dispatch services.
Fire Chief Victor J. Zumbruski has said that the antenna he hopes Amherst will get is a Hampshire County-owned antenna that now stands on the grounds of the Goshen Fire Department. Amherst would get that 140-foot steel antenna, which stands on concrete blocks, around May or June after a new larger antenna is installed in Goshen, he said.