HADLEY — Renovations to the girls and boys locker rooms at Hopkins Academy and purchase of a new ladder truck for the Hadley Fire Department are subject to a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override vote scheduled for Dec. 12.
Both projects, passed by voters at a special Town Meeting in October, need majority support at the ballot vote to move forward.
Though the election is set for Dec. 12 from noon to 8 p.m. at the Hadley Senior Center, Town Clerk Jessica Spanknebel said in-person voting can be done at Town Hall daily through Dec. 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Voters can also submit a written request and application to early vote by mail or to vote absentee.
The locker rooms are a $1.07 million project to renovate facilities constructed in 1965 and which don’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, have limited sight lines, small bathrooms and showers that are no longer used.
The ladder truck would be bought for $2 million, though it wouldn’t get to Hadley for several years. Called the “Swiss Army knife” of apparatus, it will have a pump and 500-gallon water tank and an extended ladder. An additional $150,000 will go to refurbish an existing fire truck that will be moved to the North Hadley substation.
Depending on how the borrowing for the locker rooms and ladder truck are structured, they would add between $177.98 and $289.38 in property taxes to the average home assessed at $418,800. The average tax bill is currently $4,833, though a recent tax classification hearing shows taxes will rise to $5,007 for an average home, to be assessed at $439,600, with a tax rate of $11.39 per $1,000 valuation.
Based on information presented to the Select Board prior to the special Town Meeting, using short-term notes, the impact of the locker rooms and ladder truck for a five-year note would be 69 cents per $1,000 valuation, while the impact for a 10-year note would be 42 cents per $1,000 valuation.
Treasurer Linda Sanderson said the earliest either would hit the tax rate is fiscal year 2025. The exact timeline for when both will begin impacting property taxes will be determined by Sanderson and Hadley’s financial team.
Because the ladder truck may not arrive until 2028, Sanderson said the borrowing costs will be delayed. She added that she will try to structure any borrowing so it minimizes increases on taxes. “We would aim to keep the payments down,” Sanderson said.
But Sanderson cautioned against stretching the payments out too long out of concern that taxpayers may also be asked to pay for the cost of a new Department of Public Works headquarters, though previous debt obligations, such as for the Hadley Senior Center and Hadley Library, are already coming down or dropping off.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
