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Date: 11/7/2023
SOUTH HADLEY — A special Town Meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 15 at South Hadley High School for Town Meeting members to review and vote on 12 articles.
Article 1 is to see if the town will hear the report of the Town Meeting Review Committee. The Town Meeting Review Committee began their work after the 2023 May Annual Town Meeting and plans to produce a report for the 2024 Annual Town Meeting. This special Town Meeting would be accepting an updated report of where things currently stand in their work.
Article 2 will see a vote to amend the fiscal year 2024 operating budget by raising and appropriating or transferring available funds to increase the same operating budget in the amount of $61,000 to account for an assistant principal in the school department.
Article 3 will see if the town will vote to transfer free cash the sum of $35,000 to cover an Eversource bill from prior fiscal years. Town Administrator Lisa Wong explained in an Oct. 25 Appropriations Committee meeting that Eversource informed the school department in October of this year that some of the meters have not been working and produced a statement dated Sept. 28 for $34,662.08.
The school department has requested that Eversource break down the bill into fiscal years 2022, 2023 and 2024 amounts so that only the 2022 and 2023 portion will be paid under this article. When more information is received, a recommendation to modify the article will be made at Town Meeting, according to Wong.
Article 4 is a vote to see if the town will transfer from unreserved free cash or other available funds $461,000 to make capital purchases, repairs or replacements. The first replacement listed is $385,000 for a new or used street sweeper.
“We do need it before our next annual Town Meeting because we need to sweep the streets with the fall and all the sanding and debris and so on. We’re going to need this sooner rather than later,” Wong told the Appropriations Committee.
The second item listed under the article is $46,000 to replace the scoreboard at the high school athletics field. Wong and other town officials have noted through discussion on this item that the current scoreboard has stopped functioning this fall. A new scoreboard would contain more modern digital elements and would be a plus addition to the town’s sports hub according to Wong.
The other items listed at $15,000 for new elevators for the town and another $15,000 toward a Historic Commission study. The $15,000 for the study would only be used if the town secures a grant and in that scenario would get back half of its money according to Wong.
Article 5, if passed, would see the town transfer from its waste water treatment plant retained earnings of $340,000 toward the Judd Brook project, $300,000, and the Main Street Pump Station channel grinder, $40,000. Wong said this funding is in line with what has been approved at Town Meeting in past years to ensure the blades within the grinder are kept up with.
Wong said of the Judd Brook project that the town has just gone out to bid, making some of the items theoretical and pending that outcome. She added the low bidder is currently at $2.15 million and their estimate has been around $2.2 million but has not recently been updated. Other bids were about $750,000 more than the $2.15 million, so because of that the town is looking to have an $800,000 contingency on the project.
Article 6 is free cash-related and is a vote on transferring from unreserved free cash or any other available funds $550,000 to the Mosier Stabilization Fund. According to Wong during the October Appropriations Committee meeting, there is currently $850,000 in the Mosier Stabilization Fund and it is estimated that about $1.5 to 2 million is needed for a feasibility study, depending on the scope and when the project is bid.
The article would raise the Mosier fund to $1.4 million and according to Wong, it will make the South Hadley project more favorable when the Massachusetts School Building Authority votes in December 2023 on which projects will move forward. If invited into the process, South Hadley must demonstrate that it has the funding in fiscal year 2025 — to be voted on at the May 2024 Town Meeting — and brings the total closer to what is needed.
Article 7 looks to transfer $145,453.94 of unreserved free cash to the Opioid Stabilization Fund. At the May Town Meeting this stabilization fund was created, but the town had already received funds before they had created a town account to handle it. This article moves those funds into the new Stabilization Fund.
Wong explained in past discussions of the draft warrant that Articles 8, 9 and 10 are all connected and have to be voted on in the order they are listed. Article 8 will be to see if the town will impose local room occupancy excise at the rate of 4%. This article is the vote to accept the Massachusetts General Law allowing for the excise tax. The town can vote the percentage up to 6% maximum.
The Selectboard discussed and recommended the 4% and the state estimates that the town will receive $7,800 for each 1%. For example, 4% is $31,200, and 6% is $46,800 per year. Wong said this article mostly applies to short term rentals in commercially managed buildings.
Article 9 is connected as it looks to impose the First Local Option Community Impact Fee at a rate of 3%. When received it would be appropriated 100% to affordable housing and public infrastructure. No properties fall into this category, but this has to be approved in order to approve Article 10.
Article 10 looks to impose the Second Local Option Community Impact Fee at the rate of 3% and when received it shall be appropriated 100% to affordable housing and public infrastructure. According to Wong, at least 35% of revenues must go to affordable housing or public infrastructure projects and the Selectboard voted for the 100%.
Article 11 would see town meeting members vote to establish a senior tax work off program effective for fiscal year 2025. The town would also adjust the exemption to allow an approved representative and allow the maximum reduction of the real property tax bill to be $2,000.
The town has been soliciting public input and discussed the program at several Selectboard meetings. The state also recently increased the maximum amount from $1,500 to $2,000.
Article 12 will have Town Meeting members vote to amend section 7-20 of the town’s general bylaws by editing the current language and creating more detailed language in the bylaw. The Master Plan Implementation Committee would be the beneficiary of the change as it would better describe their purpose as a committee, membership and organization information.
Wong said the language has already been voted on by different town committees to be changed.
The Special Town Meeting will again be on Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. inside South Hadley High School. To review the full Special Town Meeting warrant, visit https://www.southhadley.org/civicalerts.aspx?AID=885.