SOUTH HADLEY — Fire District 1 voters dissatisfied with a lack of explanation for the largest spending item on the district’s $5.2 million budget voted down a $2.7 million salary request at the annual meeting last week.
“I’m flabbergasted at what they did,” Prudential Committee Chairman Bruce Perron said. “The first responders in this district are great. It’s disheartening that people would look to defund them.”
Perron attributed the action to a “group of people with an agenda.” He said there were 74 people at the meeting Thursday, and about 40 people voted against the salary article.
“I think they were looking to make a point,” he said.
One of those opponents, Kevin Taugher, said the issue that tipped the vote was the Prudential Committee’s refusal to respond to questions about the salary article. While the overall budget showed a 3% increase, the tax levy is set to rise by more than 17.5%, to $3.88 million, because there are insufficient offsets in free cash and ambulance receipts.
“It was frustrating,” Taugher said. “They want us to spend $2.7 million and they won’t tell us what’s in 52% of the budget.”
Taugher, a former longtime Prudential Committee member and currently the town assessor, said there was no sentiment against the firefighters and other emergency responders.
“Claiming that we’re going to defund the Fire Department, that’s unfortunate,” he said.
Perron acknowledged that there was “not a lot of free cash left over,” and that drove up the tax levy. Taxes in the district, which is not subject to the Proposition 2½ restrictions on municipalities, also jumped from FY22 to FY23, by approximately 15%.
He said the district has added two firefighters for the coming budget year beginning July 1, and it added two in the current budget year. The district employs 26 firefighter/paramedics and 15 call firefighters, he said.
He also asserted that this year’s tax rate of $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed valuation is well below its peak of $2.40 in 2019. He estimated that it would climb to $2.23 in the coming year.
Taugher said another issue for him is a lack of transparency in the business of the Prudential Committee.
“They haven’t posted any meeting minutes since Aug. 17,” he said, since when he estimated the committee has held 15 meetings. This gives voters no way of knowing what went into making the budget unless they attended the meetings, he said.
In addition, he said, the annual report was only made available the day of the meeting.
Perron said the three-member Prudential Committee will meet Friday to set a date for reconvening the annual meeting, with the aim of getting the budget passed. He said the meeting would be held before the end of the month and he’s hoping for a large turnout.
“I’ll ask the other board members that we present the budget as submitted,” he said.
Taugher said many people will be looking for answers from the committee.
“If they had an explanation, it would have passed,” he said. “Let’s get some facts on the table.”