It’s budget time.  Our Supervisor, Satish Mohan, is busy developing a budget for our town.  As that process continues rumors swirl around concerning what Mohan will or won’t include.  Debbi Bucki is taking a proactive approach.  She sent the Supervisor the following memorandum concerning the 2009 Town of Amherst Highway Department budget:

I write in regard to the impending release of your proposed Town of Amherst fiscal year 2009 budget that the Town Board will consider next month, particularly concerning swirling rumors that such proposed budget will drastically cut funding for Amherst Highway Department, and will seek layoffs of a sizable number of the Highway Department’s employees.

Such rumors, if true, are of great concern to me, for several reasons.  As you know, and as I have stated many times over the past three years, I believe in reducing the size of Amherst’s municipal workforce via attrition, rather than through wholesale job cuts.  Because the law would require the Town to pay six months of unemployment benefits for each employee let go, widespread layoffs in the Highway Department, in my view, do not make fiscal sense for our Town.

They also could have a detrimental impact upon services to our residents, and upon the safety of our community.  The Highway Department must have the resources and equipment necessary to clear Amherst’s roadways of snow in the upcoming winter.  A significant decrease in such resources would have so many negative consequences:  from delays in emergency response times from Amherst’s police officers and firefighters during a storm, to treacherous driving conditions, to problems with delivery of hot meals to home-bound senior citizens through Meals on Wheels.  I urge you to consider these factors as you formulate your proposal for the Highway Department’s budget in 2009.

As the liaison to the Highway Department, I look forward to working with you and with Highway Superintendent Robert Anderson in preparing a budget that is fiscally prudent, while ensuring that Amherst continues to provide residents with the first-rate Highway Department services that they expect and deserve.

Tuesday evening Council Member Debbie Bucki was endorsed by the Amherst Democratic Committee for the position of Town Clerk.  The election for this position will be in November.  Debbie will on the campaign trail starting this Monday.