This quick guide appears once, and you can open it anytime from the header.
The pie chart on the left is the Town of Amherst Fiscal Year 2026 budget, as passed by
the town councilors. The pie chart on the right is yours to adjust.
Use the toggle bars to suggest to the town councilors how you would like your taxes
spent. You may also submit a short comment to contextualize your desired allocations.
Hostile messages, cursing, or personal attacks in the message box will invalidate your
pie chart and may result in a ban from the site.
At the end of each month, resident allocations will be combined with those of other
Amherst residents. The resulting pie chart will be automatically emailed to the town
council monthly, along with all attached comments.
Each resident may submit one pie chart and comment per month. We also limit a maximum
of two accounts per address.
This is a powerfully communicative form of direct democracy. We hope the town council
will come to a more nuanced and representative understanding of Amherst residents’
priorities. That said, this is a purely advisory, non-binding tool. For now.
Your data will not be retained after monthly aggregation. We will never sell it or use
it for any purpose other than submitting it directly to the town council. Pie charts
sent to the town council are aggregated and therefore anonymous. Unless you include
your name in your comment, citizen comments will also be anonymized.