Hadley Finance Committee Backs Single Override Question Covering Fire, General Town Costs

HADLEY -- July 16, 2025, Hadley Finance Committee signals support for a single $2 million override question to address a structural budget shortfall. Chair Amy Fiden, along with members Peter Matusko and Paul Benjamin, three of five members present at the July 16 meeting, reached informal consensus that a combined ballot question covering general town expenses, fire department costs, and a new capital reserve fund is preferable to splitting the override into separate questions. Matusko identified the town's expansion to a full-time fire department, a second ambulance service whose projected billing revenues "never materialized," and sharply rising insurance and union contract costs as the three drivers behind a recurring annual gap he put at $400,000 to $600,000, historically papered over by drawing on free cash and stabilization reserves. The working override figure is approximately $1.9 million, not yet including a capital reserve component estimated at $300,000 per year; updated numbers from town finance staff were pending at the meeting's close. Hadley's current residential tax rate of $11.60 per thousand is below Northampton's $13.70 to $13.80, and members said the town would remain below surrounding communities even after an override.