By Scott Merzbach
Amherst Bulletin
Published on November 21, 2008
If a new presidential administration in Washington, D.C., could do one thing to help Amherst’s budget problems, it might be to solve the issue of rising health care costs for municipal employees, according to town officials.
Town Manager Larry Shaffer said the expected cash shortfall Amherst has experienced in recent years is being driven almost exclusively by escalating health care costs. Shaffer estimates that 12 to 13 cents of every dollar the town spends goes toward health care.
If the country had a single-payer health care system or some other form of nationalized health care, this would provide the most immediate financial relief possible to a town like Amherst, which is facing a projected $2.66 million gap between revenues and expenses in next year’s budget. “If you’re looking for the home run, that’s the home run,” Shaffer said.
Select Board member Diana Stein said the municipal health budget is $2.7 million, and rises to $11 million when school employees are added in. Having a universal, publicly financed health care would help.
Stein said these health care costs could be removed from the budget through a single-payer system.