HADLEY — At an often tense joint meeting of the Select Board and Finance Committee Wednesday, Interim Town Administrator Michael Mason said that should the $2.25 million Proposition 2½ override be turned down at Monday’s election, 40 to 50 positions, or about half the town’s workforce, would be at risk.
Even though vacant town and school positions would be targeted first, the town would have to go well beyond those due to a looming deadline of the town running out of money. Additionally, the fire department would be scaled back to providing only on-call coverage overnight should.
Even with what Mason said is the “terrifying” consequences of trimming staff, though, he doesn’t believe the town can “layoff its way” through the problem. The override was designed to maintain the nearly 88 full-time equivalents who work for the town, while also covering rising health insurance costs and reducing the reliance on free cash.
Should the override fail, the Select Board and Finance Committee set aside the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 1, for making decisions on issuing pink slips and then getting a new fiscal year 2026 budget in place for the Oct. 23 special Town Meeting.
“If this gets voted down, Oct. 1, make no mistake, is going to suck,” Mason said. “Decisions are going to need to be made because there’s no way to get the number without making those decisions. Prepare yourself, because it’s going to be rough.”
A special Town Meeting on Sept. 9 rejected both the general override and a separate $300,000 override for capital projects, and officials are girding for a similar result on Monday.
Even so, Select Board member David J. Fill II said the town could prepare in other ways, such as offering voters a smaller override number and better explaining the layoffs.
“We’ve got to have a plan,” Fill said
“We know the path forward if it passes, we don’t know the path forward if it doesn’t,” Fill said.
Finance Committee member Andy Klepacki, too, suggested some compromise dollar amount, while Select Board member Amy Parsons said several options should have been presented to voters.
Finance Committee member Paul Benjamin, though, said a smaller number won’t solve the issue due to inflation and health insurance.
“I don’t see a solution other than an override,” Benjamin said.
“I think we get a really great level of service in this town,” Benjamin said. “I hope people can set aside the anger and the rhetoric going on, and keep this town strong.”
Finance Committee member Shardool Parmar said losing employees isn’t the right approach. “You can’t cut your way to make this work,” Parmar said.
School officials will also be at the table when any decisions on cuts are made, said Select Board member Molly Keegan.
Select Board Chairman Randy Izer said voters need to understand that half of the money in the override, or more, is beyond the control of the Select Board, Finance Committee and town’s financial team.
Fill suggested the town should also consider establishing a policy of implementing a hiring freeze on new positions that would require majority support from the Select Board and Finance Committee before these are made.
“I think it’s important to show taxpayers that we’re trying to make changes that they’re screaming for,” Fill said.
The discussion, lasting nearly three hours, came as Parmar criticized his colleagues on the panel for misleading voters, calling out Chairwoman Amy Fyden, member Peter Matuzsko and Klepacki, who all advocated against the override at the special Town Meeting.
“I’m fed up, I’m really upset,” said Parmar, president of the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group. “As a business owner, we need to go and treat our employees better than what we are treating.”
Matuszko disputed that he has any level of influence on taxpayers. “You’re saying the three of us brainwashed 600 people?” Matuszko said. “That’s what you’re saying.”
People at the end of the month have their bills to pay and that’s why they rejected the override, he said.
“It all comes down to your wallet, and that’s what everybody’s looking at the increase in the property taxes, the compound interest,” Matuszko said. Matuszko said residents have told him the fire department should return to being on-call only overnight.
Parmar also told Fyden he once had admiration for her work, but now is concerned she is being inconsistent in opposing the override after previously endorsing the town ambulance, the expanded fire department and a compensation study for town employees and ending the reliance on free cash.
“I’m sorry I ranted, I’m sorry I’m yelling, I’m just really upset that… all of the things that are in this override are things you have talked (about) over 10 years,” Parmar said.
Fyden said she intends to do more to inform taxpayers about how the town government can begin running differently.
“Listen to the people, stop yelling, let’s fix this, let’s try to make this work,” Fyden said.