Hadley Select Board Approves New Three-Tier Water Rates, Defers Ambulance Upgrade

HADLEY — June 18, 2025 — Hadley restructures water and sewer rates and defers ambulance upgrade at marathon June 18 board meeting. The Select Board, sitting as water and sewer commissioners, unanimously approved a new three-tier water rate structure setting commercial at $8.95 per unit, residential at $7.50, and a combined agricultural-municipal tier at $4.25, all effective November 1 and projected to generate a surplus of roughly $55,000 against a prior projected shortfall of $410,000. The board also set sewer rates at $13.68 for commercial and $11.98 for residential-municipal. Board member Amy Parsons, who built and presented her own rate analysis spreadsheet, called the result a structure that would "limp through and kind of almost do a little more than break even." In a joint session with the Finance Committee and Ambulance Oversight Committee, the board voted 4-1 to direct staff toward a general override request covering fire department staffing and the existing basic life support second-call ambulance, explicitly deferring an advanced life support license application; Finance Director Linda warned the town faces a structural gap of roughly $1.75 million to $1.9 million going into fiscal year 2027.