DEERFIELD — Voters will consider two overrides and eight citizen’s petitions, as well as two returning articles regarding Deerfield becoming a Climate Leader Community, during Annual Town Meeting this year.
The meeting, which will address 26 warrant articles, will start at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 11, in the Frontier Regional School gymnasium.
Overrides
Amid a tough budget year that saw a nearly $500,000 jump in health insurance, which is the major driver of the increase in the town’s budget, residents will be presented with two Proposition 2½ overrides.
Article 6 calls for a $103,253 override that would fund the South County Senior Center’s relocation to the 12,000-square-foot office building at 112 Amherst Road in Sunderland. According to Town Administrator Christopher Dunne, this would cover the difference between Deerfield’s share of the increased Senior Center budget if it remained at its current location at 22 Amherst Road and the cost of the proposed new location.
According to the voter guide for the Town Meeting warrant, baseline property taxes for fiscal year 2027 would see a 2.3% increase from the current fiscal year. Passing the Senior Center override would bump this rate up by an additional 0.6%.
After being approved at Sunderland’s Annual Town Meeting and election, the Senior Center relocation must also gain approval from Deerfield and Whately. In Deerfield, voters must pass the override for the relocation at Town Meeting and the May 19 town election, before Whately residents vote at their June 2 Annual Town Meeting.
At Sunderland’s Annual Town Meeting in April, Senior Center Board of Oversight Chair Joyce Palmer-Fortune described the 112 Amherst Road location as “a building that is in really good shape, [with] no deferred maintenance whatsoever,” and renting it as “the most cost-effective thing to do” to find a new facility for the seniors of Whately, Deerfield and Sunderland.
“Seniors, you show up — you show up when the schools need you, you show up when the Highway Department needs you, you show up when everyone needs you,” Palmer-Fortune said. “Here’s one time when I’m asking everybody to show up for the seniors.”
According to the guide, the Deerfield Finance Committee does not recommend the article, claiming the proposed building is not “a sound financial investment for many reasons.”
The description of the committee’s position claims the proposed renovations are “minimal, leaving large costs potentially looming for future required upgrades.” It also mentions that no equity would be built during the rental of the property and that while the Senior Center would have the option to purchase the building in the future, this cost is not included in the calculations for the relocation. The proposal more than doubles the center’s budget, with the Finance Committee calling the Deerfield Town Hall at 8 Conway St. a “viable alternative … at a much lower cost to all three towns.”
The price tag for making the current Town Hall into a suitable home for a Senior Center has been a source of disagreement between the Deerfield Finance Committee and the South County Senior Center’s Board of Oversight.
Article 9 then calls for a separate $400,000 override to fund the increase in the South County EMS budget. According to South County EMS Chief Joshua Sparks, the purchase of a $325,000 ambulance, which Deerfield voters approved at the October Special Town Meeting, led to this increase, along with cost-of-living adjustments, health insurance rates and “indirect costs to the town of Deerfield.”
To help offset the increase, expenses that are not related to staffing have been reduced from previous years, leading to a level-services budget that “does not allow for expansion or improvement of services,” Sparks said.
According to the guide, this override would raise property taxes in fiscal year 2027 by an additional 2.6% from the baseline rates.
The Finance Committee recommends this override, which also requires approval in a corresponding ballot question to go into effect.
Climate Leader Community
Residents will vote again on adopting the Zero-Emission-Vehicle First Policy and replacing the Stretch Energy Code with the Specialized Energy Code, two citizen’s petitions.
The policies represent two of five requirements for Deerfield to become a Climate Leader Community, a state designation that unlocks up to $1 million in grant funding for projects geared toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, along with a Decarbonization Technical Support Grant of up to $150,000.
The Zero-Emission-Vehicle First Policy proposed in Article 19 would require Deerfield to purchase zero-emission vehicles “for municipal use whenever such vehicles are commercially available and practicable,” according to mass.gov‘s description.
The Selectboard voted in support of the proposed policy on April 8. Selectboard member Tim Hilchey described the Zero-Emission-Vehicle First Policy as a “follow-up” to a similar policy that Deerfield adopted in 2011 that requires the town to “purchase only fuel-efficient vehicles for municipal use whenever such vehicles are commercially available and practicable.”
With Selectboard support, Selectboard Chair Trevor McDaniel said the article “carries a little more weight.”
Article 21 asks voters to again consider replacing the town’s Stretch Energy Code with the Specialized Energy Code “for the purpose of regulating the design and construction of new buildings for the effective use of energy and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” the warrant reads.
In an informational session on the two green energy articles on April 30, Bobby de Sousa, the energy code program manager at Performance Systems Development Consulting, described the Specialized Energy Code as “not a whole new energy code; it’s an addition to the Stretch Code” that requires builders of only new, detached construction to ensure the building produces net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through either installing enough renewable energy to offset other energy use in the building, building a house that runs on only electricity, or installing solar panels and pre-wiring the new building.
“It really signals that a community is taking a leadership role in clean energy and climate within their community,” said Mark Rabinsky, the Green Communities coordinator for western Massachusetts at the state Department of Energy Resources (DOER).
Given Berkshire Gas’ moratorium on natural gas in Deerfield, de Sousa said the Specialized Energy Code would have little effect. According to de Sousa and Rabinksy, housing development across the state is already swinging in the direction of net-zero emissions, with 60% of new homes in the first quarter of 2026 being built “all-electric.”
“The numbers are climbing. … It is the way that we’re building right now,” Rabinsky said. When reflecting on the Climate Leader Communities program as a whole, he added, “A lot of these topics and decisions are being made at the local level and they’re not being pushed down anyone’s throat. … The thing about the Green Communities program, about adopting code, about choosing your path, is that [towns] get to make those decisions.”
Article 22, another citizen’s petition, calls for rescinding the 2011 Annual Town Meeting vote that adopted the Stretch Energy Code and deleting the code from the town’s bylaw. Resident Matthew Ainsworth, who submitted the petition, claimed the change would lower construction costs and “allow us to get government out of our houses.”
Other citizen’s petitions
Along with the Zero-Emission-Vehicle First article, the Selectboard also voted in support of Article 20, which proposes a tax work-off program for retirees and veterans. The program would allow residents over the age of 60 and veterans to work part-time positions in town departments. Instead of earning a paycheck, the participants’ wages would be applied to their property tax bills.
According to the warrant, the policy would set the maximum annual property tax abatement for participants at $1,500. If voters approve the article, the Selectboard would iron out other details, including any limits for income eligibility and a cap on the number of participants.
Resident Denise Schwartz, who submitted the citizen’s petition, described the program as a way for residents with “a lifetime of work experience” to get involved in town government and feel more connected with their community while reaping the financial benefits.
“For people to become better-informed citizens is really important,” Schwartz said.
Other petitions call for increasing the Selectboard’s membership from three to five; creating the position of Board of Health chair, separate from the Selectboard; establishing that any article voted down at a Town Meeting could not be reconsidered for at least two years; and approving the rent or purchase of 450 electronic vote tabulators.
Other articles
Residents will also vote on using $230,000 to replace the Department of Public Works’ Freightliner plow truck, $80,000 to pay for a portion of the installation of solar panels on the Tilton Library, $73,000 to replace a police cruiser and $117,000 to replace “worn flooring” throughout Deerfield Elementary School. If passed, all of these funds would come from the Capital Stabilization Fund.
Voters will consider amending the town’s bylaws governing the Capital Improvement Planning Committee, changing the treasurer and accountant’s position on the committee from a requirement to “available upon request of the committee.” According to the guide, the proposed changes “are administrative in nature and support proper assessment of capital projects.”
To view the full 26-article warrant, visit tinyurl.com/DeerfieldATM2026.
