HADLEY — Residents will not be asked to consider a new Department of Public Works headquarters at annual Town Meeting next week, with the warrant article associated with the $18.7 million project to be delayed.

The Select Board Wednesday voted 4-0, with member Randy Izer absent, to delay a discussion and vote on the building project at the May 1 Town Meeting. The vote came, in part, due to an anticipated request later this year for a Proposition 2 ½ tax-cap override to fund portions of the $23.07 million operating budget for fiscal year 2026.

“I’m absolutely in favor of bringing it to the town, it’s strategically the question of when’s the best time to bring it,” said Select Board Chairwoman Molly Keegan,

“My concern is we have a week to sell this to the town,” said board member Jane Nevinsmith.

For board member David J. Fill II, there is also the worry about a lengthy discussion on the building project, and not being able to complete necessary town business that night.

The decision to not take up what would have been the last article at the annual Town Meeting likely means the fate of the DPW building project, a 23,00o-square-foot building with a wash bay, two mechanical bays, vehicle storage and office space, restrooms and locker rooms, will not be decided until late summer or early fall.

The Select Board’s vote came despite a recommendation from the DPW Building Committee to have the warrant article discussed and voted on this spring, which would mean getting a sense of the sentiment of the community, said Committee Chairman James Maksimoski. “Will it pass, will it fail, what kind of comments are we going to get, where are we going to go?” Maksimoski said.

Delaying to fall puts the project off a full year, Maksimoski said, as the town wouldn’t be able get bids out when contractors ere “hungry” and might submit competitive bids for work.

The plan created by Helene-Karl Architects of Groton was originally for a $19.65 million project, but this has since been reduced to $18.7 million, based on the recent experience of building a similar project in the town of Boxborough. A smaller project, at around 15,000 square feet, by removing much of the storage space, is no longer being contemplated because the price tag wasn’t much lower.

The project would have an estimated increase in property taxes of $1.19 per $1,000 of property value using a 30-year loan with a 5% interest rate, and an increase of $1.42 per $1,000 valuation using a 20-year loan with a 5% interest rate. Based on that, for a home valued at $400,000, the tax bills would increase between $476 and $568.

But the first-ever general override is looming large and may affect support for the building project.

“My concern is that people will be inclined to vote it (the DPW project) down in the absence of all the information about that," Keegan said.

Keegan said town officials are at the early stages of teeing up conversation about the override.

Finance Committee member Paul Benjamin said if an override and the building project are on the same warrant and discussed at the same meeting, that could pose problems, especially if the override fails and people have to be laid off.

“We're going lose something,” Benjamin said. “We could lose the override and end up with the building.”

Putting off the DPW building until fall is acceptable, said Finance Committee Chairwoman Amy Fyden, so long as the architect is on hand to do a presentation.

Maksimoski said the architect will come to a meeting, whether it be annual Town Meeting or a special session later in the summer.

Keegan said the priority of the DPW building remains.  “It's just we have a series of unfortunate coinciding financial events here,” Keegan said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.