Belchertown brief: Sunday, September 20, 2026
Belchertown Select Board adopts four financial policies but leaves $340,896 surplus split unresolved before Oct. 5 deadline
Belchertown Select Board adopts four financial policies but leaves $340,896 surplus split unresolved before Oct. 5 deadline.
From Belchertown News
- UMass hydrologist briefs Belchertown on drought, well risk. UMass hydrologist Konstantinos Andriadas told residents Massachusetts remains in a Level 2 drought despite July rain because groundwater recharges only in winter. More than 12,000 of Belchertown's roughly 15,400 residents rely on private wells, most drilled about 290 feet deep.Belchertown News
- Select Board sends $61,611 to school opioid program. Belchertown's Select Board voted 5-0 to send $61,611.36 in opioid settlement funds to the schools' drug-free communities program, while debating whether to sell the vacant Tadgell building despite a roughly $1 million state design grant.Belchertown News
- Finance panel proposes cutting reliance on free cash. The Finance Committee voted 3-0 four times to recommend new budget, reserve, free cash and capital stabilization policies, aiming to cut free cash use in the operating budget to 30 percent, down from roughly 50 percent.Belchertown News
- Conservation panel presses town's own trail project. Belchertown's Conservation Commission continued a hearing on the town's Lake Wallace Woods Trail rebuild over wetland buffer concerns, while ratifying enforcement orders for stormwater work on North Main Street and erosion at Pine Valley Plantation.Belchertown News
- Select Board adopts four financial policies, surplus split unresolved. The Select Board adopted budget, reserve, free cash and capital stabilization policies, raising the stabilization target to 4 to 7 percent of the roughly $62 million budget, and must settle a $340,896 surplus split before an October 5 warrant deadline.Belchertown News
- Just one of 18 recent Belchertown deeds shows sale price. A review of property transactions recorded in Belchertown found only one of 18 deeds filed during the period listed an actual sale price.Belchertown News
Today in Belchertown
- Firefighter graduates from state fire academy. Firefighter Sylvants Moore graduated from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy's Career Recruit Firefighter Training Program, the town announced.Town of Belchertown
- Fire Department welcomes two new firefighters. The Belchertown Fire Department welcomed Firefighter/Paramedic Myranda Garreffi and Firefighter/EMT Jacob Haley to the department, according to a town announcement.Town of Belchertown
Coming up
- Thu, Sep 24: Fireworks, food trucks planned for Sept. 24 celebration. Belchertown will mark America's 250th birthday on September 24 with fireworks, food trucks, games and a community program, the town announced.Town of Belchertown