PELHAM — Despite warnings about a looming fiscal crisis being faced by the town, residents at annual Town Meeting Saturday will be presented a $6.22 million fiscal year 2027 budget that will cover all town and school expenses and leave some spending capacity going forward.
Action on the 22-article warrant, which also includes decisions on transferring a parcel where a Habitat for Humanity home would be constructed and requests for Community Preservation Act money to improve the Buffam Falls conservation area, begins at 9 a.m. at Pelham Elementary School.
The Finance Committee, whose members are John Trickey, Cara Castenson, Emily
Marriott and David Keiser, has issued a sobering memo to residents about the town entering a fiscal crisis that has been forecast in recent years, and concerns about Pelham’s financial viability.
“The reality that is clearly emerging, in the view of the Finance Committee, is that Pelham does not have the tax base to fund the current and growing requirements for the town,” the committee writes.
Members observe, though, that the Select Board has appointed two committees, one to identify and study all options for the kindergarten to sixth-grade education of Pelham students, and the other to look for new revenue streams that Pelham might be able to use. Both committees will have reports finished by December 2026. Earlier this year, there had been concern about the possible closure of the elementary school.
The committee outlines how the budget, which is up $227,727, or 3.8%, from this year’s $5.99 million in spending, was put together, with all departments asked to absorb 2.5% cost-of-living increases and step increases through reductions elsewhere. Even after doing so, the budget grew by $55,383, related to increases from the Hampshire Group Insurance Trust, Hampshire County Retirement system and workers’ compensation.
Overall spending for the elementary and regional schools is increasing by 5%, with a $65,614, or 3.1%, increase, from $2.1 million to $2.16 million, for the elementary, and a $101,821, or 7.8% increase, from $1.31 million to $1.41 million, for the regional assessment. The actual elementary school’s budget increased by a total of $231,280, with this offset by applying an additional $132,445 from the school’s accrued school choice revolving account.
To address revenues, Town Meeting will be asked to adopt a resolution in support of a bill sponsored by Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown, known as the Quabbin Watershed and Regional Equity Act, which would establish a partnership program providing approximately $35 million annually to support the communities that host and protect the Quabbin Reservoir watershed. Pelham is among those that have been stymied from future development.
The resolution reads: “Pelham supports a fair partnership between the communities that protect the commonwealth’s drinking water supply and the millions of residents who rely upon it.”
The town will use free cash totaling $274,958, with $79,275 to cover capital costs associated with the regional schools, $35,000 to pay for students attending charter schools and $25,000 for road maintenance.
Outside of the budget, the largest expenditures are $150,000 from the Capital Plan Equipment Stabilization Fund to buy new self-contained breathing apparatus and accessories to replace the Fire Department’s expired units, and $100,000 from the Capital Plan Stabilization Fund to make necessary repairs to the exterior of the Community Center.
The town’s Conservation Commission is asking for $40,000 from the Community Preservation Act account. Three-quarters of this would go toward restoring the weathered stairs and bridge leading to Buffam Falls from North Valley Road, with the remainder to create digital trail maps for the town, which will be available on the town website and downloadable as digital files that can be used in phone-based mapping applications.
Residents will be asked to convey land on Cadwell Street to Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity. The homes that will be built there will be the second development Habitat has undertaken in Pelham, with two homes on Amherst Road completed in 2022.
The last article is a citizens’ petition requesting a temporary moratorium on new
single-family construction on specific vacant lots, larger than 10,000 square feet, in the Village Center districts. The idea of doing this is to give the town’s Planning Board time to review and clarify zoning provisions affecting neighborhood scale, site density and dimensional standards for new single-family dwellings. The moratorium would last for one year or until amendments are adopted.
