South Hadley Town Meeting will vote on 37 articles

The Selectboard has recommended a budget of $43,292,481 for the coming fiscal year for the town; the biggest chunk goes to education.

SOUTH HADLEY — The Annual Town Meeting will be held May 12 beginning at 9:15 a.m. in the South Hadley Town Hall auditorium.

Town Meeting members will vote on funding everything from snow removal to Veterans Affairs to the South Hadley Schools, as described in 37 articles.

After voting on the current warrant, the town will meet again on June 19 to vote on capital improvements for infrastructure. By then the Massachusetts governor, House and Senate are expected to have announced how much state aid towns are getting.

South Hadley officials have estimated that state aid to the town will be just over $11 million.

Property taxes, the biggest source of income for the town, will increase in Fiscal Year 2013 by 2½ percent over the previous year, the greatest increase allowed by law.

The Selectboard has recommended a budget of $43,292,481 for the coming fiscal year for the town. The biggest chunk goes to education. Other expenses include public works, public safety, human services, the municipal golf course, libraries and cultural events.

The Appropriations Committee may still change some of these figures.

The School Department is asking for $19,658,322. In an Appropriations meeting last week, Interim Superintendent Christine Swecklo described some of the financial challenges schools are facing, including the fact that President Obama’s two-year federal Education Jobs Grants program has ended.

The warrant proposes $316,961 for the Council on Aging and $3,477,879 for the Department of Public Works, not including snow removal.

The Canal Park Committee, 

whose mission is to document and market the first commercially navigable canal in the nation, is asking for $900.

The warrant also proposes $12,350 for the private Gaylord Library, although the library had hoped for $31,753 to maintain its level of service and development.

The Selectboard has increased its budget to make room for a new position of Assistant Town Administrator. Selectboard members themselves do not get salaries, but rather receive a stipend of $2,000 a year each.