HATFIELD — Voters at Tuesday’s town election rejected a $66,000 Proposition 2½ tax cap override designed to provide additional compensation for Hatfield Fire Department staff, ensuring their wages remain competitive with area communities.

By a narrow margin, voters rejected the spending by 24 votes, 234 to 258, with 14 of the 506 voters leaving their ballots blank.

With no contested elections, 18.5% of the 2,731 voters cast ballots, which is a low turnout, according to Town Clerk Alaina Wilcox.

Edmund E. Jaworski Jr. won another three-year term on the Select Board, having been first elected to the position at a special election in January 2017.

Incumbent Catherine J. Englehardt and newcomer Imane Green earned three-year positions on the School Committee, while James Neal Tarr won a second, five-year term on Planning Board and Douglas C. Finn will get to serve out the remaining two years of another Planning Board position.

Other incumbents reelected included Scott W. McCoy for a three-year term on the Board of Assessors, Dodie Eva Gaudet for a three-year term as library trustee, Jeffrey C. Zgrodnik for a three-year term on the Board of Health, Lucinda M. Williams for a three-year term on the Cemetery Commission, E. Lary Grossman for a five-year term on the Hatfield Redevelopment Authority and Lydia Szych for a one-year term as elector under the Oliver Smith Will.

The override would have added the $474,578 for fire and ambulance service, allowing the department to remain competitive in its pay for paramedics, and to cover other staffing expenses.

The spending earned support by voice vote at Town Meeting last week, though Bill Belden of Pantry Road expressed concern that this didn’t follow the recommendation of a study commissioned by the Select Board to have 24-hour service, instead of relying on ambulances from Northampton or South Country EMS in South Deerfield overnight.

Belden said 24-hour shifts is what firefighter-paramedics want, rather than the 16-hour-a-day coverage that means hit or miss fire coverage and no overnight ambulance.

“Why this isn’t addressed on a 24-7 basis is beyond me,” Belden said.

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