SOUTH HADLEY — The special and annual Town Meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 8 at 6 p.m. at South Hadley High School, 153 Newton St.
The two warrants feature a combined 34 articles and can be found at Town Hall or online at tinyurl.com/u983jku8.
The special Town Meeting will feature six articles to see if the town will vote to transfer funds from free cash to pay for bills incurred in fiscal year 2023 and 2024 as well voting on transferring funds to cover 2024 ledges, wastewater and South Hadley’s portion of the ValleyBike Share program.
The Town Meeting warrant features 28 articles with the FY25 budget being Article 10.
Articles 10 through 16 are the financial articles.
The the proposed FY25 budget is projected to be around $56.4 million which is approximately a 3.4% increase from FY24.
Article 11 seeks to allocate $950,000 for capital purchases, repairs or replacements including HVAC and roof repairs at the library, replacement of Pearl Street Elmer Brook culvert and safety upgrades and studies in South Hadley Schools.
Article 12 looks to transfer from WWTP retained earning and enterprise fund receipts the sum of $602,000 to make purchases, repairs and replacements in the wastewater capital budget.
Those requests include a transformer upgrade at the Main Street pump station, a Main Street bypass and a channel grinder.
Article 13 includes transferring $150,000 from the Ledges Retained Earnings for capital purchases, repairs and replacements.
Article 14 seeks to purchase trash and recycling carts for $750,000.
Recently, South Hadley has hosted a few public hearings to announce that the residents trash rates and way of disposing their garbage will be changing soon.
Town Administrator Lisa Wong said vendors are moving away from manual pickup to automated pickup and automated pickups involve carts so that the arm attached to the truck can pick up the cart and dump it into the truck. This article would allow the town to purchase those carts.
Article 16, if approved, will allow the town to appropriate, borrow or transfer from available funds the amount of money to be expended under the School Building Committee for a feasibility study for Mosier Elementary School.
Articles 17 to 28 are general articles and citizens petitions.
Article 17 would dissolve the Opioid Stabilization Fund and transfer the money to a special fund established.
Article 18 would authorize an annual increase in the asset or whole estate mimit for exemptions granted to senior citizens, surviving spouses and surviving minors.
Article 19 would authorize an annual increase in the amount of exemptions granted to certain senior citizens, surviving spouses and surviving minors by up to 100% of the percentage increase in the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Article 20 would authorize an exemption in the amount of $500 to blind persons who are legal residents in South Hadley, which is an increase from the current exemption amount of $437.50.
Articles 21 through 26 include bylaw amendments for the Bylaw Review Committee, Capital Planning Committee, Council on Aging as well as a bylaw amendment for nuisance sound, enforcement and municipal lien charge.
The committee bylaw amendments deal with the duties and size of the committees.
The nuisance bylaw amendment adds a new section of what classifies as unreasonable noise. The first violation is a warning, the second violation is a $100 fine and the third violation and each subsequent violation is $300.
Article 27 is a petition to amend the zoning bylaw to allow multifamily residencies within the business A-1 zoning district.
The Planning Board reasoning for this article can be found at www.tinyurl.com/55tmt8uu.
Article 28 is another petition to see if the town would recommend the Planning Board change their meeting format from virtual-only to hybrid.
Articles one through nine deal with reports.
Article 1 will hear and act upon the report of town officer, board and committees.
Article 2 would authorize the treasurer, with the approval of the Select Board, to borrow money from time to time in anticipation of revenue for FY25 while
Article 3 would authorize the treasurer to enter into compensating balance agreements with bank offices having their principal offices in Massachsuetts during FY25.
Article 4 seeks to authorize the Select Board to defend against all suits brought against South Hadley.
Article 5 looks to authorize the Select Board to apply for an accept federal or state grants as they became available.
Article 6 would vote to accept Chapter 90 funds which is for highway improvements.
Article 7 would vote to fix the compensation and salary of the town moderator, Select Board members and assessors.
Article 8 would authorize the total expenitures for the revolving fund to be expended on Buttery Brook Farm for $30,000 and Council on Aging Woodlawn Café for $50,000.
Article 9 would authorize the Select Board and School Committee to enter into contracts in excess of three years in FY25.
