HADLEY — Widespread layoffs are possible in Hadley should voters reject a $2.25 million Proposition 2½ tax-cap override that will be presented in late summer or early fall.
The Select Board, at a joint meeting with the Finance Committee on Tuesday, approved plans to bring forward a $2.25 million general override, aimed in part at covering rising costs associated with health insurance and fire department operations, and a separate $300,000 override targeted for capital and maintenance needs.
A special Town Meeting is scheduled for Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at Hopkins Academy that will give voters the opportunity to revise the $23.07 million fiscal year 2026 budget adopted at annual Town Meeting in May. The ballot vote for the override measures will follow that meeting at a date not yet set.
The ramifications for voting down the override would likely mean eliminating up to 30 municipal employee positions, representing just over a quarter of the 114-member workforce on the town side.
“It will come from wage lines. It will be personnel,” interim Town Administrator Michael Mason said. “There’s no other place to take it than staffing.”
While Hopkins Academy and Hadley Elementary School would be at risk of losing $130,000 should the override fail, it’s unclear whether the schools would face immediate staff reductions, as Superintendent Anne McKenzie may be able to plug any gaps using money from the district’s school choice account.
The general override includes a need for $330,000 in health insurance costs included in the $23.07 million budget approved in May, and an additional $486,000 in new insurance costs due to the 20% rate increase approved by the Insurance Advisory Committee for the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust this week. The general override also has $580,000 for an around-the-clock fire department, adding a second Basic Life Service ambulance, dealing with inflation and raising employee pay to a level commensurate with comparable communities, and reducing dependence on free cash transfers.
Mason said the town has already cut operational expenses as deeply as possible, and more layoffs would be necessary if the override number is reduced.
Finance Committee member Paul Benjamin said the override is not about expanding the number of employees, but catching up with salaries and a changing economy, not having free cash available and paying higher insurance costs.
“We have an obligation to pay these things and we’re out of free cash,” Benjamin said.
Select Board member Molly Keegan said the override is about keeping Hadley strong and maintaining a triple-A bond rating that reduces borrowing costs.
“The time has come we have to start charging what it costs for us to operate,” said Select Board member Jane Nevinsmith.
Select Board Chairman Randy Izer said officials need to make sure that the full insurance increase is covered and that voters won’t be asked to spend more again in a few months.
“Otherwise we’ll probably be back for it in a year or less,” Izer said.
But Izer said it is hard to gauge the pain level acceptable to residents and whether they will support the spending plan.
The new tax rate is projected to be $13.38 per $1,000 valuation, up from the current $11.63 per $1,000 valuation, which for a $450,000 home would mean the property tax bills going up from $5,233.50 to $6,021, a $787.50 increase.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
