SOUTHAMPTON — The town has postponed a special Town Meeting originally scheduled for Sept. 30 until November and removed a request for $11.97 million in funding for a new senior center to at least next fiscal year due to financial concerns.
The town plans to reschedule the special Town Meeting for early- to mid-November on a Saturday. Before that, the Select Board is expected to finalize the warrant that must be presented to the public two weeks before the meeting.
At a special meeting on Sept. 12, Town Administrator Scott Szczebak said the board decided to remove the senior center item from the warrant. He attributed the decision to a recent unexpected $500,000 increase in health insurance costs from the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust.
Szczebak said the board remains supportive of the senior center project and want to see it move forward, “but at this time there’s too many question marks … it’s best to put a pause on it for now.”
The 73 members of the trust voted last month to increase insurance rates by an additional 20% effective Oct. 1. Southampton was the only member to vote against the insurance increase.
The board unveiled a draft of the 11-article warrant to the public at a previous meeting on Sept. 2. The two main articles of discussion at the meeting included Article 1 — the $12 million senior center — and Article 2 — a transfer of $318,922 to help cover the cost of the health insurance raise.
The senior center article would have asked voters to appropriate money to design, build and furnish the center. The total cost of the project is estimated to be about $14 million, with the additional funding coming from the estate of David “Red” Parsons, a Southampton resident who died in May 2021, leaving the town nearly $2.5 million written in his will to fulfill a feasibility study for a new senior center.
The Select Board likely won’t revisit the senior center plan until next fiscal year.
While the senior center is off the table right now, residents will likely be asked to transfer the money to cover the costs of the health insurance increase later this fall. The money would come from multiple areas, including stabilization funds, public safety items and the William E. Norris Elementary School.
While the warrant for November is not finalized, the Select Board has plans to add another article that asks to transfer approximately $60,000 from the Water Department to repay the town for a previous project.
Other articles expected for the November meeting include transferring $6,691 to the conservation agent, transferring $5,907 to the health director/agent, appointment of Finance Committee, appropriate $50,000 to get matching funds from Kestrel Land Trust, and appropriate $426,900 to obtain a Local Acquisition for Natural Diversity Grant for 27 acres of land.
Here is the warrant draft from Sept. 2: