Budget dominates South Hadley’s Town Meeting warrant

SOUTH HADLEY — The beat goes on in Suth Hadley as this year’s Town Meeting will feature one of the most consequential budget discussions in the community’s history.

The meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 13, at 6 p.m. inside South Hadley High School and feature 23 articles, including Article 10, the proposed $59.8 million fiscal year 2027 budget, which features an increase of just under $2 million from FY26.

With both override votes failing on April 14, the current proposal reflects a level-service budget but includes a roughly $2 million deficit.

During an April 28 Town Meeting warrant review meeting, the Appropriations Committee approved a $61.4 million budget, which added approximately $1.5 million in free cash to the school budget. The School Committee will discuss where the additional funding is allocated during its next meeting, and the budget will also be discussed at a future Selectboard and/or Appropriations Committee meeting. Town Meeting representatives will still have to approve the budget.

The School Committee recently approved a $27.5 million budget on March 17 that included the elimination of administrative positions, the reduction of high school staffing, and the elimination of sports, extracurriculars and music programs in the middle school and high school.
On April 28, Town Administrator Lisa Wong presented three options for the town: pass the budget as submitted, attempt another tax override or utilize free cash to balance the FY27 budget.

She stated, “To kind of keep this simple, if I were to tell you what my recommendation was, I would say give the schools an additional $1.5 million in free cash so they can level service and they can make some strategic investments.”

Articles 11–19 cover financial matters, many tied to a potential Proposition 2½ override. Wong recently proposed a $4.35 million override, which the Selectboard will discuss on May 5, with a possible special election set for June 23.

Article 11 would supplement the operating budget contingent on an override, while Articles 12 and 13 would establish and fund an override stabilization fund for future costs.

“The supplemental budget could include overlaps with the original budget, so for example, if you said, ‘I want to spend another million dollars in free cash on the budget,’ then you could have an override that says that, ‘well, the override would replace that million dollars or it would be supplemental to that,’” Wong explained, “You then have to decide if you want to create that fund, and then you have to decide how much you want to fund that fund to the tune of how much and from where.”

Article 14 looks to allocate about $1.25 million for 19 capital projects across town departments.

Article 15 looks to transfer $625,000 from the wastewater treatment enterprise fund to make purchases, repairs and replacements in the wastewater capital budget.

Article 16 aims to transfer $100,000 from the Ledges Retained Earnings for capital purchases, repairs and replacements.

Article 17 will ask the town if they support a $100,000 transfer to the Special Education Stabilization Fund, while Article 18 looks to transfer $150,000 from free cash to the South Hadley Falls Redevelopment Fund.

Article 19 looks to transfer $400,000 from free cash to pay for snow and ice bills incurred in fiscal year 2026.

Article 21 asks for Town Meeting to consider the repeal and replacement of the South Hadley Zoning Bylaw Chapter 255-91 Floodplain Regulations to meet current regulatory standards for floodplains. The Planning Board conducted a public hearing on March 13 for the proposed amendment to the Zoning Bylaw.

Article 22 is a zoning bylaw amendment that aims to insert new definitions related to types and regulation of signs.

According to the town, Article 23 is a citizen petition to strike “voting members,” and replace it with “residents of South Hadley,” so that it reads, “Only residents of the Town of South Hadley are entitled to address any Annual or Special Town Meeting, except that others may speak to articles at the discretion of the Town Moderator or upon a majority vote of the voting members.”

Articles 1–9 address routine business, including reports, borrowing authorization, grant acceptance and revolving fund spending.

Article 1 will hear and act upon the report of town officers, board and committees, while Article 2 would authorize the treasurer, with the approval of the Selectboard, to borrow money from time to time in anticipation of revenue for FY27.

Article 3 would authorize the treasurer to enter into compensating balance agreements with bank offices in Massachusetts during FY27, and Article 4 seeks to authorize the Selectboard to defend against all suits brought against South Hadley.

Article 5 would authorize the Selectboard to apply for and accept federal or state grants as they become available, and Article 6 asks the town to accept Chapter 90 funds for highway improvements.

Article 7 asks to fix the compensation and salary of the town moderator, Selectboard members and assessors.

If passed, Article 8 would authorize the total expenditure for the revolving fund to be expended on Buttery Brook Farm for $50,000 and Council on Aging Woodlawn Café for $50,000.

Article 9, meanwhile, would authorize the Selectboard and School Committee to enter into contracts in excess of three years in FY26.