Deerfield Select Board Places Two Prop 2½ Override Questions on May Ballot

DEERFIELD — April 13, 2026 — Deerfield Select Board votes to put two Prop 2½ override questions before voters on May 19. The board voted unanimously 3-0 Monday to place both questions on the annual town election ballot: one seeking $103,253 to fund renovations and a lease at 112 Amherst Road in Sunderland for the South County Senior Center, and one seeking $400,000 to move the South County Emergency Medical Service assessment permanently onto the tax levy rather than drawing from free cash. Select Board Chair Trevor McDaniel called the SCEMS question a structural correction, saying "we cannot continue to pay for a top-line 24-hour medical ambulance response service with free cash." Resident John O'Neil said at the public microphone that rising property taxes were pushing some residents to consider leaving town and questioned whether SCEMS could ever reach a spending flat-line. Finance Committee Chair Julie Chalfant's panel also tabled a motion to reduce the Conservation Agent's hours after agreeing the agent, Pete Law, deserved a formal hearing, and approved a $110,000 free cash transfer to cover a snow and ice overage — the town's actual overage is $130,000, with $20,000 sought from within the operating budget.