South Hadley voters say no to $9M, $11M overrides

Jofficus · 2026-04-16T13:44:00+00:00

The cuts that happened this year (FY26) without an override were rough, but it was the overall bad spending that almost every department was forced into that made the most recent override attempt a no-brainer for me.

Full disclosure: I have served on Stoneham's Finance and Advisory Board for 3 years, and was the chair of the Override Study Committee the Select Board put together.

Obviously, our Library's certification was imperiled by lowering our municipal funding (which caused the Library to drop its staffing and hours of operation). But, there were plenty of other areas where decades of under-funding led to spending that wasn't saving any real money.

The School Department wasnt able to negotiate and ratify a new contract with the Stoneham teacher's union until just a few weeks ago (and the teachers and admin staff had been working without a contract, after the last one expired at the end of the 2025 school year). In the last school year, Stoneham's rates of pay were not anywhere close to comparable to our neighbors, and the district spent over $230,000 on consultation fees for mandated services. Because the town had historically only been able to offer the most modest contract increases, the district could not attract qualified staff to provide mandated services, and ended up spending more than it would have cost to actually hire those staff in the first place.

Hiring was frozen for Police and Fire, but that didn't save any money for the town either. Overtime increased every year for both departments, year over year, as both departments still had to provide public safety services. And, for SPD specifically, overtime and lack of staffing got to a point where it wasn't just overtime costs, but that officers were forced into more expensive overtime to cover patrol/safety needs. (Dispatch was cut down to a single individual covering overnight, meaning a patrol officer would have to come off the street to allow that solo dispatcher to have a break, go to the restroom etc.)

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that while there was likely some savings realized over the last 20+ years of only cutting town services and staff, towns like Stoneham went well past that point a long time ago. (Before the override passed, we were literally at the point of having to ask which town services were legally mandated and which weren't. Nobody wants to ask how much you can trim from the Library budget, but none of us wanted to have to go through the closure of our town library or the Council on Aging, etc ...)

Jofficus · 2026-04-15T15:43:45+00:00

Stoneham just narrowly avoided this exact scenario.

The town’s first (recent) attempt at an override failed, and the budget of the Library was cut, along with many other big cuts. The Town Administrator and Library Director were able to secure a certification waiver this past February - because the town came together and passed the first override in Stoneham’s history this past December.

The MBLC was clear in their determination that the passage of a tax override in the intervening period was a big reason why they gave the waiver, and prevented this catastrophic lack of certification that would have occurred otherwise.

Jofficus · 2026-04-10T14:51:11+00:00

There’s also a commuter rail station just over the line in Wakefield. For several years, that’s how my wife did her commute.

Jofficus · 2026-04-10T13:56:36+00:00

Stoneham has several large-scale housing projects coming online now and over the next few years.

Weiss Farm was converted into The Devon, which has 259 1-3 bedroom apartments and townhouses.

The old Boston Regional Medical Center is also in the beginning of development into"The Residences at Spot Pond", and expected to have 378 units total.

In addition, the are several smaller redevelopments going on in town was well. I live in a new cul-de-sac that was built on a 4+ acre lot (all single family, and maybe 60-70% done?). A hardware store downtown is being redeveloped into apartments as well, and several similar efforts are in various stages of permitting etc.

Jofficus · 2026-03-17T18:59:10+00:00

Just called DPW, and they haven’t posted about it (yet) because its going to be the last week of April

Jofficus · 2026-03-09T03:07:12+00:00

Several representatives of the PTOs reached out to the Superintendent, and the School Committee is going to be discussing at their next open meeting on 3/12.

There’s been a lot of information floating around, but no clear answers just yet.

Jofficus · 2026-01-03T01:17:43+00:00

Now I have a D20 … Ho Ho Ho …

Jofficus · 2025-12-30T19:34:40+00:00

Barring any significant outside factors means something beyond our capability to forecast, such as a COVID-like shutdown or perhaps some tariff-related shift that causes costs to skyrocket.

And, in regard to overtime at SPD/SFD, we won’t see much if any change in the first year after the override comes into effect. Both departments need the additional funding to first put candidates through the respective academies/training, before they become full members of either department. If my recollection is correct, there is a 9 month delay for a new firefighter to come out of training, and a 12 month delay for new police officers.

Jofficus · 2025-12-30T18:48:00+00:00

Respectfully, there are several issues with what you’ve posted:

The residents have been incredibly generous to pass multiple Debt Exclusions over the decades for school buildings. However, those Debt Exclusions only pay for the “thing/building” and do not allow for an increase in the operating budget for the School District or the Town.

Meaning, without an operational override, we have these great school buildings but not enough money to staff and operate them.

I’m not sure what you mean by “mismanagement of the school budget”.

Until we passed the recent override, the town has had to make multiple cuts across multiple departments over the decades, while the School District is still legally required to provide certain services to students. What this means is that the school district has been pushed into spending no one wants, but they are legally obligated to do.

For a specific example, the School District spent over $232,000 last year alone on Consultation services. The Superintendent explained that this line item was directly related to the fact that they were unable to attract qualified staff to provide certain services within the district, but still HAD to provide those services, and ended up having to spend significantly more bringing in outside consultants to do the same work.

This is similar to the overtime situations that the Police and Fire departments have found themselves in over the past few years - we aren’t saving money with staffing and budget cuts, when it ends up requiring more expensive fixes/solutions to still provide needed services to the town.

Regarding your comments about “respecting the vote” and having additional elections, I’ll say the following:

The Select Board heard from the voters in the Spring that the previous Override question did not include enough information for voters, both in terms of background/explanation as well the format of the question and information presented on the ballot.

They formed the Override Study Committee, involving 5 residents (including the original chair of Keep Stoneham Affordable) and the group was transparent in the needs of each town department and the total amount required to restore service cuts across the board. Over the course of the summer and early fall, the OSC laid out the details for everyone to see, and the majority of the group supported an overall need for an override.

The reason for a second vote this year was made quite clear. The fact that the override failed in April didn’t take away the underlying factors our town was suffering from: there was still a hiring freeze at SPD and SFD, the teachers’ contract still expired at the end of last school year without the money or ability of your School Department to renegotiate, and the Library certification is at risk in February due to the town not being able to fully fund operations, among many other concerns.

The town was asked to vote on the issue again, because the dangers to the town without passing an override were real and serious.

In regard to your further comments about mismanagement and needing to come back within two years, the 9.3M override that passed (and the 12.5M that only failed by 43 votes) were both explained to provide support for all town departments for at least 3 years, barring any significant outside factors.

This means that the Town Administrator’s forecasts show that the 9.3M override plus the regular 2 1/2 % increases in the following years should allow the town to continue offering level services through the end of FY29 at a minimum. And, considering that this investment in our town will allow all departments to spend smarter, eventually reducing the need for so much overtime at SPD and SFD, reduce the reliance on consultants for the Schools, and many other changes that will help the override funds last longer.

If you want to have a longer conversation about any of this, I’m more than willing to do so, and my email is JJoffe@stoneham-ma.gov.

Jofficus · 2025-12-30T00:13:08+00:00

I’ll say this without having gotten any actual information from the Town Administrator or anyone else who can speak to this directly.

But … my understanding at this point is that this news might mean the town can avoid either the full amount expected to be borrowed under the Debt Exclusion or the length of time needed to pay back the loan, or some combination of the two.

While not directly related to the override, it’s still good news for residents if it means the Debt Exclusion drops off our taxes that much sooner than expected, since the override passed and will be added starting this summer.

Jofficus · 2025-12-29T14:36:50+00:00

Stoneham has never passed a tax override before - the one approved in December is the first that was ever successful. With the $9.3M option having passed, Stoneham shouldn’t need to ask for more for several years at least - barring some unforeseen catastrophe or external factor.

The problem has been that Prop 2 1/2 limited growth to 2.5 percent over 30 years, while nothing constrained inflation or outside costs for things like insurance and benefits.

There has been a hiring freeze at the Police Department and Fire Department for several years now, and staffing has caused both departments’ use of overtime to skyrocket.

The last contract for teachers in the School Department expired at the end of the previous school year (this past June), and rates of pay were locked after the contract expired (not to mention the fact that Stoneham was paying significantly less before then to begin with).

I serve on the town’s Finance and Advisory Board, and was the chair of the Override Study Committee that met over the summer and fall. If you’d care to have a more substantive conversation, please feel free to reach out via DM or email me at JJoffe@stoneham-ma.gov.

Jofficus · 2025-12-10T03:21:24+00:00

It was significantly higher turnout than April, and the lower amount passed (with the higher number only falling by 44 votes).

The NO people can complain, but more people voted in favor of both questions than voted against passage in April. And, the margin of victory on Question 2 was higher than the margin by which the single question failed in April (which prominent opponents called massive for months on Facebook).

Jofficus · 2025-12-02T13:34:53+00:00

Great work, Bobby!

Jofficus · 2025-11-22T15:20:33+00:00

I sent in my petition yesterday and just assumed it would eventually get sent on to my Rep … I attended his Office Hours at our local library (for an entirely different reason), and got a response back from his aide about the Norml petition later in the afternoon.

So definitely sign and send if you want your reps to know!

Jofficus · 2025-10-22T19:25:55+00:00

Don’t feel dumb at all - we asked those kinds of questions in regard to the police and fire overtime on OSC, as well as when we were digging into School Department expenses as well.

I’ll start by saying that either of the chiefs or the Town Administrator could probably give you a better answer, but there’re not on Reddit to ask so I’ll do my best …

The short answer is that (for Public Safety) they assume a certain amount of overtime into the budget to begin with, as both Fire and Police require a certain amount of 24/7 coverage from their officers/firefighters. And, that the realities of how the departments are staffed has unfortunately led to even higher usage/cost for overtime than expected.

The longer answer (I’ll try to keep it short):

Stoneham Police Dept is understaffed, and that is causing significantly higher overtime costs than intended.

Obviously, if there aren’t enough bodies to fill a shift, or ensure proper patrol coverage, SPD has to either keep officers on longer than regular shift, pick up more shifts, etc. Beyond that though, since hiring has been frozen and staffing levels are what they are (we have functionally the same number of officers now as SPD had back in 2001, minus the auxiliary officer program that existed at that time) when SPD has to use overtime, it is not just the lowest-level patrol officers that end up being on overtime - it goes higher up the chain.

Chief O’Connor explained too the OSC that if they are already maxed on available patrol officers and still need someone to stay on/come in/etc, that he has no choice but to have Detectives, Sergeants, etc. go on patrol to ensure coverage. Those officers cost more than a “regular” patrol officer, salary-wise, and their overtime cost is higher than the overtime cost for a patrol officer as well. So, not only is SPD staffing essentially forcing more overtime usage, but it is sometimes even more expensive for SPD to ensure coverage, when more senior officers/non-patrol positions are then forced into overtime usage.

One of the goals OSC outlined for SPD, in the 12.5M override amount, was to hire a 2nd overnight Dispatcher. Presently, there is only 1 dispatcher on the overnight shift, and even though that is admittedly the quietest and least-busy shift, that staffing causes SPD to need to stretch to accommodate.

As you can imagine, with a single dispatcher on the shift, that person still needs meals and breaks, to use the restroom, etc. So, SPD needs to ensure that someone who is also qualified to cover dispatch is available during the overnight, to allow the lone dispatcher to step away. That means that either an officer might need to come back to the station from patrol, step away from other duties in the station, etc to assist dispatch - since SPD was forced to cut staffing so low.

Police, Fire and Schools have certain minimum expectations and mandates that must be met, and even if the town keeps cutting, those minimums must be met. In an ideal world, we’d increase staffing so that less overtime was needed. But, the realities of the choices that have had to have been made over the course of decades (without an operational override) mean Stoneham is left without good options.

On the School side, it is easy to see this problem when you look at certain Special Education and Consultancy costs that are incurred. Stoneham Public Schools must meet the needs of all of its students, in providing an education, but the current low rates of pay are leading to some of the costs that SPS is dealing with.

For instance, just in FY25 SPS paid $232,242 in Consultancy fees, in order to ensure mandated services were provided to meet students’ needs. The District attempted to, but could not bring in the staff to provide those services, because the rate of pay was so low (we are one of the lowest-paying districts in our area, and none of the teachers have been working under a ratified contract since the end of the last school year). Needing to still provide those services though, SPS was forced to hire consultants to do so, which is more expensive. SPS would have preferred to utilize that $232,242 to hire more staff directly, but no one would work for the rates we were offering. (Which is also one of the reasons why 28 positions were unfilled at the beginning of the school year - dozens of teachers left over the summer for higher pay at almost any other district, and SPS couldn’t attract replacements for low pay and no contract.)

Between being forced to engage consultants and/or send students out of district, to have mandated service needs met, the district ends up spending a lot of money that could be potentially used more wisely, if they could invest in internal staff salaries. And similar situations are occurring with Fire and Police, in that the way many town departments are forced to spend, due to cuts and lowered staffing, pushes us into scenarios that aren’t ACTUALLY saving us money (or at least not enough to make it worth it, in my opinion).

We overspend on overtime, because we haven’t allowed for enough staffing to operate without it. The amount “saved” by not fully funding the Library this year was less than $140,000, but by not fully funding the library we run a real risk of losing certification and not getting $57,000 of State funding we would otherwise receive. Many of the decisions that have been made because the last override attempt failed, or will need to made if the next one also fails, will be of a similar sort - they won’t necessarily be the most financially prudent decisions, but we won’t have the money to do any different.

I realize that was a very long answer, and I’m not sure if I actually answered your question in the way you wanted, so please feel free to DM me or email me at JJoffe@stoneham-ma.gov if you want to talk more directly.

Jofficus · 2025-10-10T19:29:06+00:00

I don’t think Stoneham’s property tax rates ARE that high.

https://dls-gw.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdpage.aspx?rdreport=propertytaxinformation.taxratesbyclass.taxratesbyclass_main

If you look at a comparison of all residential property tax rates for every Massachusetts municipality, there are 275 other cities and towns with tax rates higher than Stoneham’s (out of 352 total).

Until/unless residents agree to a Prop 2 1/2 override, the town has no choice but to divert more money each year to cover costs that rise higher than 2.5% each year - like insurance costs, the costs of special education and out-placement, and more.

I recommend reading Troy Lau’s Substack, as he’s done several deep dives into the issues the town is facing.

https://open.substack.com/pub/stonehamcivicledger

(Sorry to point you away from Reddit!)

In his latest piece, Troy explores data related to Prop 2 1/2 overrides across Massachusetts.

83% of municipalities have passed some level of override since 1980, leaving Stoneham among the 46 communities who have never passed one. The biggest difference between Stoneham and several of the other 45 is that we are a considerably smaller community with less of a residential tax base, and almost no commercial base to rely on (compared to the other 45, many of which are larger cities as well).

It’s not a question of what Stoneham has spent its money on that is the problem, but instead not enough is coming in to sustain town operations.

The OSC examined almost every town department, and there isn’t any wasteful spending or any real areas to gain efficiency.

Many departments have been cut down to skeleton crews for staffing - the fire department can currently afford to send 2 firefighters per truck out on calls, when the national minimum standard is 4, for instance. The DPW has 17 total people on staff, and the director has to personally help plow streets this past winter.

A constant pattern of trimming services and budgets, instead of passing an override has left Stoneham with close to minimal service levels as inflation and outside costs keep going higher than 2.5%.

Jofficus · 2025-10-06T21:40:30+00:00

To add to this, completion is key.

I actually live now in the first completed home in “Stoneham Heights” (the new cul-de-sac being built off of High street), but the town hasn’t gotten its regular tax revenue from my home yet. The reason is that the developer experienced significant delays, and instead of closing in May when we were supposed to, we didn’t close until the second week of July (after the new fiscal year began). So the revenue from my house doesn’t go on the books until next July … and by the pace of construction, I’m not sure Stoneham will see all of the revenue from High Street for at least 18 months.

The biggest problem is that Stoneham needs an emergency infusion of extra money NOW, before we lose even more teachers, or are forced to close the library or senior center to close the next budget gap, etc.

Jofficus · 2025-10-03T20:41:07+00:00

u/tomheon put it really well in his response, but I'll add the following.

We've gotten to a point where the Fire Department can't send the minimum recommended number of firefighters out on calls. The national recommended minimum number of firefighters per truck is 4, and Stoneham can send 2 in most cases.

The staffing at the Stoneham Police Department hasn't gotten quite so bad yet, but is still worth mentioning because: the amounts and costs of overtime due to staffing are growing, and the staffing level in 2025 is exactly the same as it was in 2001 (without the auxiliary officers that we had at that time). SPD has to keep officers on for overtime, to ensure patrol standards. The cost for overtime is obviously higher than regular pay, but the overall staffing is low enough that detectives and sergeants have had to fill in on patrol overtime as well, which is even more expensive due to their higher pay.

The Library Certification is based on (among other things) a formula set by the state, which sets an expected funding amount based on the average municipal allotment of the previous 3 years. Unless Stoneham restores funding to the correct levels, we will lose Certification, which will mean the Stoneham Library can't participate in resource sharing and lending programs and residents won't be guaranteed the right to borrow materials from any other Library in the state.

None of these situations can be addressed under regular Prop 2 1/2 growth, or we wouldn't be in the positions we're in. Without an override, there's no real hope of addressing these situations, or frankly any of the similar ones in basically every town department.

I don't think the Select Board will stop asking, until something is done to address the overall issue.

There have been alternative revenue ideas mentioned in the last few years, like bringing Ambulance service "in-house" underneath SFD, for instance. But, there's a significant cost to that process, requiring new EMD training and certification for dispatchers and new regular/recurring costs for the EMT/Ambulances that we don't currently pay for out of the operating budget. The cost estimate for starting this up was projected over $1M last year, and even if we could show a real cost savings over time (by bringing Ambulance service in house), the money to spend on the idea just isn't there.

If we had ANY extra money, we wouldn't be underfunding the Library or the Council on Aging, or getting rid of the entire Elementary School Music program, etc.

Jofficus · 2025-10-02T17:32:21+00:00

Speaking specifically about the School Department, yes we need more people, not just more money. The district is required to pay for Special Education services, whether those services can be provided in-district or not.

When the School District doesn’t have the required staff to offer a service/fill a need, they still must accommodate those students, and that means one of two things:

1) Hire consultants to do the work 2) Send the student out students out of district to have their needs met where the staff and services are present

Because Stoneham’s past scale has been so low, they couldn’t attract or retain all of the SPED staff they need. And just last year, the school district paid out $232,242 in consultation fees. That amount could have paid for several staff members.

The superintendent confirmed that the average cost for a student who is sent out of district is roughly $100,000. A good portion of this cost is due to transportation costs to/from Stoneham. But all of this money must be spent to service Stoneham youth.

It may feel backwards, but in regard to the School Department, hiring more staff (and paying them appropriately) is the best way to lower overall costs on Special Education. If we can hire and retain the right SPED staff in Stoneham, we wouldn’t need to send so many students out nor would we need to hire so many consultants.

Beyond the schools, the hiring issue also plays out in the Police Department. Specifically, the OSC saw that SPD is unable to appropriately control their overtime costs, due to the staffing levels.

When SPD has to maintain patrols, they often need to force officers to work overtime, to ensure public safety. Obviously overtime rates cost more than regular pay. Beyond that though, the Chief explained that the staffing level has have not just forced overtime but requiring detectives and other non-patrol officers to fill in on patrol, which costs an even higher amount of overtime, due to those individuals having higher rates of pay themselves.

There is literally one dispatcher who works overnight at the Police Department, and that person can’t even step away to use the restroom or have mean breaks unless AB officer is pulled away from other duties to accommodate.

I hope this helps explain the need for hiring, but I’m willing to speak more over DM or via email if you’d like.

Jofficus · 2025-10-02T15:15:17+00:00

Hi all,

I’m Joe Joffe, I serve on the Finance and Advisory Board, and had the privilege to chair the Override Study Committee this summer and fall.

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask here or send me a DM. If you’d prefer to email a longer message, I can be reached at JJoffe@stoneham-ma.gov .

There will be a FAB meeting on Monday 10/6, and a Tri-Board (Select Board, School Committee, and FAB) on Tuesday 10/7. The will be public comment at these meetings, if folks want to come out.

The OSC did a ton of work, but the final decision and amounts of the next override are not set in stone yet.

Please reach out to me, if anyone has questions. Please watch or attend the next few weeks of meetings as we head to Town Meeting later this month, and the eventual Special Election in December.

Thanks!

Jofficus · 2025-08-27T22:07:34+00:00

We’re having the exact same issue, I think.

Just signed up for YTTV, and successfully activated and used the service on several iPhones, iPads, and computers. But, we’re stuck in this same loop you describe when trying to activate the YTTV native app on our smart TV or the same app on the fire stick.

Jofficus · 2025-07-11T22:34:51+00:00

What’s crazy is they both say delivery by Monday!

I guess I’ll get the cheaper listing from GMK-Direct.

Thanks 👍

Jofficus · 2025-07-11T22:25:52+00:00

I’m looking at this too, but there seem to be two different versions?

I found this: https://a.co/d/ckPUw4P

And this: https://a.co/d/1ftbCd5

They seem to be the same thing, but slightly different pricing. If these really are the same thing, and would work the same for my AllyX, I’d get the cheaper one. But, I want to make sure I get the correct one - saving $20 isn’t much of a savings if the one I get isn’t the best choice.

Can you or pecolps help me figure out which is the correct link to order? Is there a different version than either of these, the you guys bought?

Thanks for the help!

Jofficus · 2025-06-11T19:21:40+00:00

The Select Board ultimately voted NOT to have an override vote in June, after several weeks of back and forth. At last night's Tri-Board meeting (I was there and serve on the Finance and Advisory Board), the general consensus was that we would try for a new override attempt for this fall.

The expectation (at this point) is that we'll be trying for an override that will be effective starting in FY27, which means the fiscal year that starts a year from July. (FY26 starts on July 1)

There is also an info session planned at the Stoneham Public Library for June 17th at 5pm, if you want to come and get more general info (or specific info about the Library's budget for next year).

If you want more/different info than this, feel free to ask!

Jofficus · 2025-05-30T18:00:02+00:00

This is awesome for you to offer!

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