Town Administrator Lisa Wong (left) and the Select Board discuss the proposed FY26 town budget.
Photo credit: SCHTV15
SOUTH HADLEY — At its March 18 meeting, the Select Board approved the fiscal year 2026 town budget as well as proposed increases to the wastewater and trash fees after discussing the items over the past few meetings.
Town Administrator Lisa Wong has been working on the budget for months, updating the Select Board and community along the way.
On March 18, the final proposed FY26 budget was approximately $58 million, a 2.95% increase from the FY25 budget.
After going through each department, Wong said that the budget will feature a loss of more than 27 positions with around 20 coming from the School Department.
Some departments are also set to see a minimal increase in their budget with others seeing slight decreases as well.
The town is set to lose six full-time and one part-time positions, including a human services program coordinator, an assistant director and coordinator at the Council on Aging, a part-time nurse and a member of the assessor’s, clerk’s and treasurer’s offices.
A major reason for the tough budget season is due to an increase to health insurance, retirement and genera liability.
Health insurance is set to increase by $861,500. South Hadley belongs to the Hampshire Country Health Insurance Trust, which voted on an 18% increase for HMO and 20% increase for PPO plans.
The town is currently in discussions with unions about an opt-out incentive program.
Retirement is expected to increase by 10.3% adding $500,000 to the budget and general liability is expected to increase by 15%, adding $70,000 to the budget.
Wong explained that there are other state and federal impacts that “are changing rapidly,” including changes in access to insurance, housing subsidies, work opportunities, legal status and various benefits that may affect social, economic and mental health needs.
The state is also reliant on $16 billion in federal funding reimbursements that Wong expects to “trickle down,” including Local Food for Schools grant.
Any future Department of Education cuts will impact low income and special education students.
The budget was approved 4-1 after Select Board member Nicole Casolari voted no on the budget because she said she did not feel confident and comfortable because although a lot of work went into it, it does not meet the needs of the residents.
She explained, “I can appreciate the strains on budgets across the whole commonwealth and it’s really hard when you see how those strains are impacting our residents and we’ve, at least I’ve heard from multiple, through email, in-person, of their concern of how it’s going to impact their lives in different ways or their loved one’s lives.”
Select Board Chair Andrea Miles expressed a similar feeling of not supporting the budget in terms of a “moral document.”
The budget will now move to Town Meeting in May for final approval from the residents.
The Select Board then shifted to talking about proposed increases to the wastewater and landfill rate.
After hosting a hearing on March 4 for proposed increases to wastewater and landfill rate, the Select Board approved both proposals on March 18.
The Department of Public Works staff recommended a $25 fee increase for landfill and a $50 increase for solid waste.
The current annual wastewater rate is $450, which will be raised to $500 per year starting on July 1.
DPW Director John Broderick called the current annual rate “adequate,” but further explained, “there is a need to start increasing the end of year fund balance as soon as possible in anticipation of $20 to $40 million in upgrades to be required to allow the wastewater treatment plant to service the residents of South Hadley for the next 30 plus years.”
A projection sheet rate increases of $10 per year equates to an end of year fund balance increase of $87,220/$10 increase.
“Simply put, this is a 96-cent increase per week and approximately a 14-cent increase per day for wastewater treatment per equivalent dwelling unit,” Broderick said.
For trash collection, last April, the board adopted a new automated trash removal system to replace the current pay-as-you-throw system and adopted an annual fee for FY25 at $225.
Increasing the annual solid waste rate to $225 was to help with the cart purchase and prepare for the expected increased costs while the town worked on purchasing and assembling 13,200 carts.
Broderick said he would be fine with no rate increase for FY26 but explained that an increase would be needed for FY27 to slowly increase the end of the year fund balance and cover contractual obligations with regards to collection and disposal costs.
The Select Board approved to increase the annual solid waste rate to $250 starting on July 1.
