HADLEY — Voters at packed special Town Meeting on Tuesday rejected a $2.25 million Proposition 2½ tax-cap override to support town and school operations and to cover a significant increase to health insurance costs.
In one of the largest turnouts to a Hadley Town Meeting in recent years, with the 620 voters who checked in possibly only exceeded on three occasions when Route 9 rezoning was considered for a Lowe’s home improvement store in 2003 and 2004, voters said “no” to the override by a vote of 344-250, meaning nearly 58% of those attending the meeting were against the increased spending.
Voters also turned down a smaller, $300,000 Proposition 2½ tax-cap override for capital expenses, 278-229.
Both measures will still be part of a ballot vote on Sept. 29. Another special Town Meeting will also be held in October, at which time a revised town budget, with or without the added spending, will be presented for the current fiscal year. Annual Town Meeting in May approved a $22.76 million spending plan.
The limited discussion at the meeting centered on whether town officials had made mistakes, especially when it came to staffing. The town has gone from 65.44 full-time equivalent employees in July 2018 to 87.59 full-time equivalents in July 2025.
Former Select Board member Brian West of Bay Road wondered how town officials could continue to add staff — 22.15 positions in seven years — through the pandemic and afterward, knowing that revenues were not keeping pace with expenses and not having the money to pay these salaries.
“At some point, somebody who is elected in this town has to say, ‘before we hire somebody, how are we going to pay for it?'” West said. “If that question was asked over the last five years, we wouldn’t be sitting here.”
“You can’t hire people until you can pay for them,” West said.
Paul Mokrzecki of River Drive said he believes the town has plenty of revenue that would allow officials to avoid asking taxpayers for more money, suggesting that $1.4 million in new revenue is sufficient and represents a higher percentage than in either Northampton or Amherst.
“We have a much more robust outside revenue source that brings in these funds each year, and it’s growing, and there’s a lot of potential,” Mokrzecki said.
Town Meeting, held in the Hopkins Academy gymnasium, began 36 minutes after the original 7 p.m. start time, as voters continued to be checked in, with a line extending out the door. All parking spaces in the paved parking lot were taken up, and police officers directed arriving vehicles to a lawn next to the school.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, the meeting began with close to an hour of members of the Select Board, Finance Director Linda Sanderson and Interim Town Administrator Michael Mason answering frequently asked questions.
Select Board member Molly Keegan explained some of the reasons, including a decision to leave $800,000 in tax revenue on the table during the pandemic to keep taxes lower. There have also been the formation of employee unions that the town is obligated to negotiate with and development of a pay scale for compensating workers, she said. While the town is not in a place it wants to be, “there is a necessity for the override ask.”
Select Board Chairman Randy Izer said a successful override will lead to stability through resetting town finances, new growth, annual 2½% increases and a more disciplined budget structure.
“This isn’t about learning a lesson, it’s about facing the financial realities before us,” Izer said.
Sanderson responded to concerns about the purchase of a $500,000 vactor truck, but that annual payments on that are less than what the town would spend for a private rental each year.
She also observed the worries for town workers. “This has been hanging over the employees of the town for months now,” Sanderson said.
At least a dozen positions are believed to be at stake, along with $579,435 that won’t be available for EMS.
But Select Board member David J. Fill II said there have been no discussions yet about layoffs or where cuts would be made.
Mason said that the additional $300,000 to $400,000 in unexpected health insurance costs is also impacting other communities that are part of the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust.
While the Select Board had unanimously supported calling on voters at the special Town Meeting to pass the override so it would get to the townwide ballot, the Finance Committee had made the same appeal more narrowly, 3-2.
That changed Tuesday, though, when Chairwoman Amy Fyden told voters that she was now against the override, having adjusted her view on the importance of having around-the-clock fire and ambulance service. Fyden joined Peter Matuszko and Andy Klepacki in opposing the override.
Fyden suggested that a lesson would not be learned if the override passed. “I do feel we need to change our behavior, our behavior needs to be changed,” Fyden said, which led to the first applause of the evening.
Vice Chairman Paul Benjamin, who maintained his support for the spending, said new revenues are plateauing, and he understands people are concerned about certain spending that has happened.
“This town needs a reset,” Benjamin said, and got applause when he pointed out that if the override is defeated, teachers, firefighters, police officers and others who serve the town would be most affected.
“It shouldn’t crash a town’s economy because you’re pissed off at one thing or another,” Benjamin said from the front of the gymnasium. “The people you’re aiming at are up here, the people you’re actually going to hit are the people who are doing all the work for the town — they’re our fire department, the police officers, it’s your teachers, it’s the people who run our parks, our library — those are the people who are going to pay for this vote tonight.”
Before the Finance Committee spoke, some residents expressed frustration by yelling out that any more speakers should be limited to three-minute durations.
Moderator Kirk Whatley made the decision to have the votes done via secret ballot and worked with Town Clerk Jessica Spankbebel to get 500 pre-printed ballots, in pink and blue, for the first two votes, and yellow cards in case of a third vote.
But Whatley apologized to the more than 100 voters who weren’t given the color coded cards, and were instead giving white pieces of paper, to mark yes or no votes, and had to be checked in a second time for the second vote.
The importance of the vote was commented on by Whatley, who said it was the most voters turning out since four separate votes on rezoning a Route 9 parcel for the Lowe’s home improvement store. Almost 700 attended the initial session on that in August 2003, with subsequent votes in January 2004 bringing out over 1,000 voters and a final, successful vote, in May 2004 drawing over 700 voters.
With many people just in the Hopkins gym to vote, little comment was made before the questions were called, though Pam Hague of River Drive said she is concerned that $2 million is sitting in school choice revenue that could be used to pay teacher salaries and insurance.
Superintendent Annie McKenzie said almost all of that, $1.6 million, is being reinvested in support for the operating budget for the schools, which each year have budget increases well below 2.5%.