HADLEY — Significant proposed cuts to the public schools and municipal services would be addressed through a Proposition 2½ tax-cap override, with town officials this week outlining how voters supporting additional spending would preserve staffing and programs across departments.
At the first public forum Wednesday on the proposed $22.37 million fiscal year 2027 budget, and two associated overrides that will be presented to annual Town Meeting May 7 and then at a ballot vote on June 2, officials discussed how both an $850,000 override, and an additional supplemental $650,000 override, would affect town spending and property taxes.
Interim Town Administrator Michael Mason said the three choices residents will have are the no-override budget, which means $1.5 million in cuts and service reductions, the $850,000 override that has been endorsed by both the Select Board and Finance Committee, and the additional $650,000 override recommended by the Select Board, bringing the total to $1.5 million.
“You have those three choices: you have nothing, you have the minimum and then you have the maximum,” Mason said.
Mason describes this process as a”two-tiered approach,” and officials will work with town counsel Mead, Talerman & Costa to make the ballot as simple as possible for voters to understand. Mason said the current budget proposal is short $1.5 million of level funding, meaning layoffs and cuts will be required.
Months after a larger override failed last September, the Select Board is advocating for an override that covers the entirety of this shortfall.
“What we want to do is preserve essential services,” said Chairman Randy Izer, including core parts of the town, such as public works, public safety, town administration and education.
“The purpose of the override is to balance service levels, fiscal health and property tax impacts for the community,” Izer said.
Even the full $1.5 million override doesn’t bring back what has previously been lost, such as the human resources department, but Select Board member David J. Fill said it would “stop the bleeding.”
Fill said one of the biggest drivers of expenses was rising health insurance costs. “No one can plan for an $800,000 for $1 million increase that’s sprung on us,” Fill said.
Select Board member Molly Keegan said the starting point is level services, and anything lower than a $1.5 million override would likely mean the need for additional overrides in future years.
The most significant cuts in the current budget is 10.6 full-time equivalents at the schools, reducing extracurriculars and athletics and limiting the early education and special education programs. At Town Hall, six staff members would see reduced hours, two full timers at the public works would be cut and assorted other positions would be trimmed.
The first step up is an $850,000 override, recommended by both the Finance Committee and Select Board. Specifically, this would restore $590,000 to the schools, two firefighter positions with $210,000 and one police officer position for $50,000.
In a statement, “The Finance Committee believes this approach balances service restoration with tax impact considerations and represents the most practical course of action at this time.”
For a $475,929 average home, taxes would go up by an additional $290.32, from $5,454 to $5,744.32. The larger override would require a $514 increase, to an average property tax bill of $5,968, for that same home.
The second step override adds an additional $650,000. This would retain public works staffing, general government, culture and recreation staffing, as well as providing additional funding to the schools and the Fire Department.
“This will increase taxes by 9%, still below a double-digit increase, while allowing the town to provide better services to the town and retaining staff levels,” according to the Select Board.
Residents who attended the forum at the Senior Center offered feedback on the override proposals.
Dylan Barstow-Manz said the town still has to look at generating more revenue, which could be through attracting more school choice students. But he worries cuts include losing a grant writer.
“Not passing the override, and then cutting income-producing things, is alarming,” Barstow-Manz said.
Finance Committee member Pam Hague said the committee agrees with the smaller override because this will keep the schools strong, beinging attractive to school choice families, without overburdening taxpayers.
Fidel Solano said a concern is that this is just a repackaged approach to the failed override last year. “If it fails this year and if it failed last year what are we going do as a town or a people to generate revenue,” Solano said.
Others suggested ways to help those taxpayers who aren’t able to pay more. Proposals from Mark Dunn of Hadley Place and Lisa Wolf of Middle Street call for the town to create an account they could draw from. “It’s a community effort to keep everyone safe and educated and in town,” Wolf said.
Select Board member Jane Nevinsmith and Fill said long-term growth has to happen.
Former Finance Committee member Paul Benjamin said there will be a domino effect through any cuts, which will cause harm to schools and the Fire Department.
“We need to protect what we have, and it is expensive, and it does mean we will have to dig a little deeper into our pockets, but the payoff is a better community, for us and for the people in the future, the kids, and other people who move here,” Benjamin said.
Making sure the Fire Department is funded is top of mind for Ken Parker of Mount Warner Road.
“Those people are just wonderful, wonderful people, and we need to support them more,” Parker said.
