Hadley Library Board Backs 8.2 Percent Budget Increase, Approves $10,000 Programming Draw

HADLEY -- January 13, 2026, Hadley Library trustees voted to advance an 8.2 percent FY27 budget request and authorized a $10,000 draw from the Charlotte Smith Fund for programming at their January 13 meeting. The budget, estimated at roughly $299,000 against the current $276,000, is driven primarily by a technology contract expansion, adding five public computers to reach 20 total, served by IT vendor CDB Mars, and a $2,400 server and lighting infrastructure support agreement; the library director described it as "essentially a service budget." Trustees also voted unanimously to draw from the Charlotte Smith Fund, which carries a balance of approximately $599,489 and is managed by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. The board separately reached consensus to send a formal letter, copying the town administrator and town attorney, demanding that the library's design firm finally file the long-delayed LEED certification application that would unlock a Board of Library Commissioners incentive grant of at least $100,000. "We've already paid for the services to submit this," the director told the board. "At this point we're just waiting to get what we paid for."