In western Massachusetts, residents in one town said “Yes” to funding a new middle school, while locals in another shot down raising property taxes to close a budget gap.
The Pioneer Valley was home to at least two special town meetings Tuesday as voters in Longmeadow and Hadley gathered in their respective auditoriums.
In Longmeadow, voters gave an emphatic “Yes” on authorizing spending for a new, likely $151 million middle school. The vote total was 1,374-402 in favor, meeting the 2/3rds majority needed.
Over the past few years, plans to merge the Williams and Glenbrook middle schools have been coming to a head.
Endorsed by the school committee, its vice chair, Nicole Choiniere, was among those reiterating why the town was pursuing the merge, which would replace two aging facilities with a new, modern school on the Williams campus. She also serves on the project’s committee.
“As a committee and together with other town boards, we have spent the last three years immersed in the review of 13 project options. The variables we considered will not change with time,” she said, describing how scenarios other than building a new, 600+ student school had significant tradeoffs. “Dual renovations will remain fiscally unfeasible and we do not believe that a new committee would arrive at a new decision.”
Critics of the project made their case as well, with some arguing plans to renovate both schools were not given the same chance as the merge scenario.
Residents like Theresa DeGiulio emphasized how some locals purchased homes by Glenbrook with a hope of giving their children access to a neighborhood middle school – a hope dashed if the school comes down.
“People have bought homes over there, thinking they're going to give their children the same lifestyle they had growing up here in town,” DeGiulio said. “… now, you’re going to take that away from them. That’s not very fair to that side of town.”
The meeting was broadcast by Longmeadow TV. With the authorization passed, Choiniere said the project still needs to clear a debt-exclusion vote on Sept. 30. With that approval, construction on the new school could start next summer.
Tentatively, the new middle school would open by August 2028, with demolition work on the older schools to follow.
Elsewhere in the valley, voters in Hadley rejected a proposition 2 ½ override effort, balking at raising property taxes in order to secure $2.25 million in need town funding.
Broadcast by Hadley Media, the meeting featured the main article failing 250-354, as did another item seeking $300,000 for the town’s Capital Stabilization account, 229-278.
Turnout was high at Hopkins Academy, with as many as 620 people at the school’s gymnasium Tuesday night.
Advocates for the override emphasized a rise in property taxes was needed to deal with rising insurance costs, fund the town’s recently-expanded fire department and replenish free cash previously used to balance the budget – otherwise, cuts would likely be coming.
However, a number of residents questioned why the burden should be passed on to property owners. Peter Matuszko argued the town of 5,300 has a spending problem.
“In seven years, 22 full-time employees have been hired … I believe this is a ‘forgiveness tax’ for the mistakes and spending in the past,” he said, noting his property taxes would likely rise from $6,000 to $7,000 via the override. “The town is still hiring … why are we still hiring?”
Being a two-step process, the override will still be the subject of a ballot vote on Sept. 29. If it were to pass, despite Tuesday’s results, officials say another town meeting would be needed to appropriate funding.
Elsewhere, there was preliminary voting in Springfield Tuesday night. Residents in Ward 4 opted to put incumbent City Councilor Malo Brown on the November ballot along with challenger Willie Naylor. In Ward 6, they picked incumbent City Councilor Victor Davila and Mary Johnson.
For School Committee District 3, current committee member Christopher Collins and challenger Rosa Valentin advanced.
In Greenfield, a preliminary school committee election resulted in six of the seven candidates advancing. The candidate with the lowest number of votes, Pamela Goodwin, did not make the cut for the Nov. 4 ballot.
