HADLEY — A dump truck for the Department of Public Works and a walk-in freezer and cooler for Hopkins Academy’s cafeteria are the lone items on a Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion ballot Tuesday.
Polls will be open from noon to 8 p.m. at the Hopkins Academy gymnasium.
In October, Town Meeting authorized buying and equipping an $85,000 F-550 dump truck, and making $55,400 in cafeteria renovations, subject to the later approval by voters at a town election.
The dump truck will replace the oldest vehicle in the DPW’s fleet, a 2001 F-350 that has been driven 102,000 miles. Select Board member Christian Stanley described the vehicle as the “workhorse” for the department at Town Meeting.
Chris Desjardins, business manager for Hadley public schools, told Town Meeting that the base of the existing freezer rusted through so that it no longer has a floor. To make a repair to the freezer, the cooler would have to be moved, so Desjardins said it made sense to replace both components at the same time.
Owners of the average residential property, assessed at $324,900, will pay just over $10 more annually on their tax bills for the next five years if both questions pass. The truck has an impact of two cents per $1,000 valuation, or $6.34 per year, while the kitchen equipment has an impact of 1.3 cents per $1,000 valuation, or $4.18 per year.
Anyone interested in voting using an absentee ballot must request a ballot from the town clerk’s office by noon on Monday.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
