HADLEY — Town officials are moving forward with bringing a Proposition 2½ tax-cap override to voters that could provide an additional $1.7 million to $2 million to the $22.76 million fiscal year 2026 operating budget, staving off staffing cuts, covering rising health insurance costs and providing some support for capital and maintenance needs.
The current budget is $1.17 million short of funding department requests, and $951,989 short of the spending recommended by Hadley’s financial team, and also needs to cover $846,785 in anticipated free cash that was used to balance the budget approved at annual Town Meeting in May.
At a joint meeting of the Select Board and Finance Committee Wednesday, almost all of the 10 members of the two panels asked Interim Town Administrator Michael Mason and Treasurer Linda Sanderson to develop a plan for an override of up to $2 million.
“I think yes, we have to put it out there, and let people decide: do they want to maintain what we have, or do we need to cut things,” said Select Board member David J. Fill II.
“I don’t see any other way,” said board member Molly Keegan.
“It’s not really about what we want, it’s about need,” said board member Amy Parsons.
“I would say we have no choice, as well, so I am in favor,” said Select Board Chairman Randy Izer.
The Finance Committee was mostly resigned to seeking the town’s first-ever tax-cap override, with Chairwoman Amy Fyden saying she would like to keep the property tax increase for a typical $453,000 home under $700. For a $2 million override, a $450,000 home would pay $684 more annually, increasing that tax bill to $5,917.50.
“Sadly, I think we have no choice,” said committee member Paul Benjamin, adding that the override is about making up for past mistakes of balancing budgets with free cash and reserves, but also about looking forward by strengthening the fire department.
Only member Peter Matuszko said he won’t support the override, but observed, “I’m going to let the taxpayers make the decision knowing there may be repercussions to this.”
Sanderson and Mason, working with Licensing Coordinator Jennifer Sanders James, presented a spreadsheet showing the impacts of an override on the current $11.63 tax rate per $1,000 valuation, which is lower than all neighboring communities in Hampshire County and southern Franklin County. Sunderland, the next lowest, is at $13.02 per $1,000 valuation.
For the $1.7 million override, likely the lowest that would be presented, the tax rate would go up to $12.92 per $1,000 valuation, while at a $2 million override the tax rate would rise to $13.15 per $1,000 valuation.
For the smaller override, the owner of a $350,000 home would pay $451.50 more in property taxes, bringing tax bills to $4,522, while the owner of a $450,000 home would pay an additional $580.50, meaning a bill of $5,814, and the owner of a $550,000 home would see $709.50 added, bringing that bill to $7,106.
At the $2 million override, the owner of a $350,000 would seen an increase of $532 to a $4,602.50 bill, an owner of a $450,000 home would see the increase of $684, to a $5,917.50 bill, and for the owner of a $550,000 home, the increase would be $836, to $7,232.50.
Mason told the Finance Committee earlier that he gathered information from all department heads and has been working to get to a baseline override number based on wages and expenses, with about $950,000 needed to cover the firefighters and ambulance, which is about the same amount as all other town and school departments, combined.
Any override would provide no additional personnel or programs, but only keep the operations as they are.
Sanderson, too, said the override is mostly not for new spending, but would be needed “to square” the use of free cash that the town doesn’t have in hand, and cover the existing ambulance service.
“We’re just trying to get even again so that we have the money coming in that we’re spending,” Sanderson said.
At Town Meeting, officials already told voters that the override would be necessary, though there had been hope of mitigating the impact through an increase in local options meals and hotel taxes, though Keegan said the Legislature is not going to allow cities and towns to do this anytime soon.
While officials have also considered a separate override for capital and maintenance needs, the Select Board and Finance Committee members said they would only want to pursue one override.
Mason said one new factor is the potential added insurance cost for the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust, with a vote expected later this month that could mean big increases for members. Those are expected to be known by late July.
A series of meetings are likely to be scheduled beginning later this month and held throughout August that would provide information to residents about why an override is being sought, the impacts on residents and how staffing, programs and services would be affected.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
