Deerfield Town Meeting Defeats Senior Center and EMS Override Ballot Questions

WHATELY -- May 11, 2026, Deerfield's Annual Town Meeting defeated two Proposition 2½ override questions and a Specialized Energy Code adoption in a chaotic six-hour session May 11. Town Moderator Dan Graves presided over a 607-voter meeting that included multiple recounts, a botched paper-ballot attempt, and a motion to adjourn before all articles were resolved. A $103,253 appropriation for a South County Senior Center lease at 112 Amherst Road in Sunderland, backed by Selectboard Chair Trevor McDaniels as the product of a decade-long, seven-site search, was defeated by majority hand count after the Finance Committee argued the existing town hall at 8 Conway Street offered comparable space at roughly $150,000 less per year. A separate $400,000 EMS override to move recurring ambulance service costs from free cash to the permanent tax levy failed by 25 votes on a recount, despite Finance Committee backing and an appeal from a resident identifying himself as a school superintendent that "you are setting yourself up for a bigger problem down the road." The Specialized Energy Code fell 355 to 211 on a controlled paper ballot after a first ballot attempt broke down. Earlier, the zero-emission first vehicle policy passed by voice vote, qualifying Deerfield as a potential Climate Leader Community eligible for up to $1.15 million in state grants. The $20,342,558 omnibus budget, reflecting a 2.3 percent property tax increase described as the lowest in ten years, passed by simple majority, as did a measure authorizing 450 electronic vote tabulators by a margin of 28 votes.