HATFIELD — Residents are being given the opportunity to decide whether the town should have around-the-clock fire protection and ambulance service, with a Proposition 2½ tax-cap override coming before voters at both annual Town Meeting and town election next month.

The Select Board at its April 8 meeting agreed to bring a $480,200 request for additional funding for personnel to staff the fire and ambulance departments and to cover other associated costs related to having coverage 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Town Meeting is scheduled for May 13, with the election a week later.

Also on the ballot, in addition to candidates for local elective office, will be a $3.3 million Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion override for capital projects at the public schools.

At a joint meeting with the Finance Committee, Fire Chief Robert Flaherty explained to the Select Board that under the current $485,288 departmental budget, fire and medical protection is offered 16 hours a day, seven days a week, but some shifts are not filled.

The override would allow the department to make its pay for firefighter/ paramedics competitive with area communities, while hiring two additional full-time firefighters at the basic EMT level and one full-time firefighter paramedic. This would allow the department’s Emergency Medical Services to have at least two personnel on at all times.

The additional funding also includes an increase to the per diem rates, those who are paid to be on call, as well as money for training and overtime. Other costs include added insurance and providing improved living quarters for those in the department.

Part of the consideration in taking this step is the town’s reliance on both Northampton Fire Department and South County EMS to respond to medical emergencies during times when staff is not available, and the delayed response. The town is also acting on a report and recommendations provided by Municipal Resources Inc. in 2023.

Flaherty said since Jan. 1, the department has missed 28 medical calls, responding to 105 during that time. In calendar year 2024, the department missed 127 medical calls, responding to 487 medical calls.

Flaherty said he understands this a large ask, but it would also allow him to do more administrative work and attend various conferences and meetings, which he often can’t do when he has to be on an ambulance call or at a fire response.

Select Board Chairwoman Diana Szynal said the vote will give her board a read of what residents want.

“Why not just ask townspeople and see what they want to do?” Szynal said.

Last year, voters rejected a $66,000 tax-cap override to make salaries for firefighting staff more competitive with the region. That override would have added to the $474,578 budget for fire and ambulance service, allowing the department to increase salaries and cover other staffing expenses.

School projects

In addition to the general override, voters will also have a $3.3 million Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion override to consider for a bond that would be issued for replacing the boilers and roof at Hatfield Elementary School and to mill and pave Billings Way, which serves as the entrance road to the elementary school, and to mill and pave the parking lots at both Hatfield Elementary and Smith Academy School.

Finance Committee Chairman Sean Barry said putting all these items into one ballot question makes sense. “The bottom line is we think all these things need to be done,” Barry said.

Finance Committee member David Keir said paving the lots can make the school buildings more presentable, an important consideration as families choice-in to the schools from the area. Fixing the roof and boilers are about protecting a town asset, he said.

Hatfield officials had been waiting for the state to provide money for the roof, but that doesn’t seem likely, said Finance Committee member Darryl Williams. Both the boilers and paving have long been part of the capital plan, he said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.