DEERFIELD — Residents will consider two proposed overrides and one contested race for the Elector Under the Will of Oliver Smith at the polls next week.
Polls will be open at Town Hall between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19.
Overrides
On Monday night, Deerfield Annual Town Meeting voters rejected both overrides. However, the questions will still show up on the ballot.
For a Proposition 2½ override to take effect, voters must approve raising the tax levy at the polls and approve the use of the funds at a Town Meeting. Therefore, if residents vote in favor of either of the two overrides at the polls on Tuesday, a Special Town Meeting could be held for residents to vote again and potentially push it through with enough support.
The first override calls for $103,253 to fund the South County Senior Center’s relocation to a 12,000-square-foot office building at 112 Amherst Road in Sunderland. The other calls for a $400,000 override to fund an increase in the South County EMS budget.
According to the voter guide for the Town Meeting warrant, baseline property taxes for fiscal year 2027 will 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% and the South County EMS override would raise property taxes in FY27 by an additional 2.6%.
Contested race for Elector Under the Will of Oliver Smith
When Hatfield farmer Oliver Smith died in 1845, he left behind a will that would help give generations of trade workers, nurses, widowed mothers and new brides a financial boost.
Smith’s will called for a $400,000 trust, with $9 million of its accrued value having benefited these groups, according to SmithCharities.org. Besides these beneficiaries, the provisions of the will also established the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton and $10,000 went toward the American Colonization Society for its goal of helping emancipated slaves travel to Africa.
According to Carla Kone, the treasurer and administrator of the will, the “primary role” of an Elector Under the Will of Oliver Smith involves spreading the word about the gifts available to qualified beneficiaries and recruiting applicants for these gifts. Deerfield, Greenfield, Whately, Hatfield, Amherst, Northampton, Hadley and Williamsburg voters each choose a representative to carry out this responsibility.
“The Oliver Smith Will is a unique creature,” said Robert Decker III, who is running for the elector position in Deerfield with a one-year term against John Baronas Jr. “It’s a good program, but people have to know that it’s there.”
Decker, a lifelong South Deerfield resident, has served the town in several ways, including through the Fire District, Planning Board and Deerfield Elementary School Committee. He currently serves on the School Committee for Franklin County Technical School, the Collaborative for Educational Services’ board of directors and the Franklin Regional Transit Authority’s board of directors.
He hopes to bring his three decades of experience as a tax auditor for the state Department of Revenue to the elector position while spreading the word about the Smith Charities’ opportunities.
“I think people should know about it, and they don’t,” said Decker, 79. Referring to his challenger Baronas, he added, “He’s a good kid. I’ve watched him grow up, and it’s nice that the younger generation’s getting involved.”
When Baronas, a lifelong Deerfield resident and retired construction worker for All States Asphalt, looks back on his time at Franklin County Technical School, he wishes he applied for the Smith Charities financial award, now an $1,200 gift for residents of Deerfield, Greenfield, Whately, Hatfield, Amherst, Northampton, Hadley or Williamsburg under 19 years old who have completed an apprenticeship in a trade.
“I didn’t get the gift, so I’ve been doing everything in my power over the past 40 years to let young people in trades know about the gift,” said Baronas, 59, who also served on the Planning Board for more than a decade. “I thought if I ran for the will, it would give me a little more credibility.”
If elected, he hopes to use his connection to Franklin Tech, experience working in a trade and knowledge of the Oliver Smith Will to expand its reach.
“That’s what you should be doing is trying to spread the word to the young, upcoming tradespeople that this will exists and please sign up for it,” Baronas said.
He described the Elector Under the Will of Oliver Smith as a “nonpolitical position” that will allow him to “do something to better the lives of young people.”
Other candidates
Residents will also vote on the following positions:
- Selectboard, three-year term — Trevor McDaniel, incumbent.
- Board of Assessors, three-year term — new candidate Paul Olszewski.
- Deerfield Elementary School Committee, three-year term — No ballot candidate (can be won by write-in votes).
- Frontier Regional School Committee, three-year term — Melissa Novak, incumbent.
- Moderator, three-year term — new candidate Mark Brennan Jr.
- Planning Board, two seats with three-year terms — Denise Mason, incumbent, and new candidate Kathleen Sylvester.
- Library trustee, three-year term — new candidate John Stacey.
- Constable, three-year term — Adam Sokoloski, incumbent.
Along with the ballot questions related to overrides, voters will also consider switching the constable position from an elected position to an appointed one, providing the second needed approval following a Town Meeting vote last year.
Correction, May 28, 2026 8:31 am: An earlier version of this article included an erroneous list of towns that have an Elector Under the Will of Oliver Smith. Deerfield, Greenfield, Whately, Hatfield, Amherst, Northampton, Hadley and Williamsburg voters each choose a representative to carry out this responsibility.
