Hatfield Select Board Warns First-Ever Budget Override May Be Needed in FY23

HATFIELD — March 29, 2022 — Hatfield Select Board signals a possible first-ever general operating override as fiscal year 2023 budget pressure builds. Meeting March 29, Chair Luke Longstreeth, Member Julia Frisby, and Member Edmund Jaworski reviewed a draft annual town meeting warrant that includes a $12 million wastewater project debt exclusion and flagged that a separate Proposition 2½ operating override question would have to reach Town Clerk Lydia by April 12 if placed on the May ballot — less than two weeks away at the time of the meeting. The assessors presented a level-funded FY23 budget with new growth estimated at roughly $61,000 to $62,000, consistent with FY21 actual new growth of $62,667, while most other department budgets showed unavoidable increases in utilities, personnel, and software costs. Longstreeth noted Hatfield carries the second-lowest property tax rate in Hampshire County, at approximately $13 per thousand, and said the town has never passed a general operating override: "It's not a decision any of us will make lightly." The warrant must be signed no later than April 26.