Community Spotlight Series
Community Spotlight highlights the programs and services your city provides — and what's at stake if the override fails. Each spotlight covers one service area: what it does, who depends on it most, and what cuts would mean for residents with the fewest alternatives.
Vote YES on June 9. Polls open 7 AM–8 PM at Easthampton High School, 70 Williston Avenue. yesforeasthampton.org
Easthampton's firefighters do more than respond to emergencies. They offer free CPR classes, home safety visits, smoke and carbon monoxide detector installations for residents who need them, sharps disposal, and show up at community events throughout the year. These programs build relationships and help prevent emergencies before they happen.
For lower-income residents who can't privately purchase safety equipment or training, the fire department's community programs may be their only access to these resources. When these programs end, that gap doesn't get filled.
If the override fails on June 9, three firefighter/paramedic positions are eliminated and these community programs end. The fire department continues — but with significantly less capacity to do anything beyond emergency response. Earlier this month, four overlapping medical calls on a single morning left the fire station temporarily without available units. That happened with current staffing. A yes vote is a commitment to not reducing that capacity further.
When a tenant in Easthampton has a housing concern — a code violation, an unsafe condition, a landlord not meeting their obligations — the Health Department is the office that responds. Housing complaints in Easthampton went from 75 in 2024 to 124 in 2025. In the first four months of 2026 alone, there were already 52. The need is real and growing.
Renters with resources can hire a tenant attorney (often priced at $200–$400 per hour). Most renters can't. The Health Department is often the only accessible recourse for lower-income tenants facing unsafe or illegal housing conditions. When that capacity shrinks, the residents with the fewest alternatives are the ones left most exposed, and the inequality between renters with resources and those without becomes more pronounced.
The Easthampton Tenants Union formally endorsed a yes vote: "A city that can't maintain basic services becomes less livable for working people very quickly."
If the override fails on June 9, the Health Department faces a nearly 40% budget cut — the steepest percentage reduction of any city department.
Nonotuck Park and the community pool are among the things this city has deliberately invested in through CPA funds, through the Parks and Recreation Commission, and through community care over many years. The pool season, the open fields, the park that runs from spring through fall — these are public, free, and available to everyone.
For families without the means to access private recreation facilities, memberships, or summer programs, these are not extras. They are the only option for resources like this. When public recreation is cut, higher-income families find private alternatives. Lower-income families often simply go without, and the gap in access to healthy, active community life widens.
If the override fails, the Parks and Recreation Department — already operating under a spending freeze — faces additional cuts. Pool hours will be limited for summer 2026. The season will be shortened with no spring opening and an early fall closure. A yes vote doesn't restore everything that's already been cut. It is a commitment to not losing more ground.
Easthampton's Planning Department processes permits, manages zoning, pursues housing grants, and does the long-range planning that shapes what the city looks like in the years ahead.
If the override fails, the Associate Planner — the primary public contact for permits and applications — is cut to 20 hours per week. The Planning Director absorbs permitting duties, reducing capacity for grants, zoning updates, and long-range planning. All professional development and training is eliminated.
Housing affordability is already a challenge in Easthampton. A less-staffed Planning Department means slower permitting, reduced capacity to pursue housing grants, and less bandwidth for the zoning work that determines whether and where affordable housing gets built. The residents most affected by a constrained housing pipeline are those for whom affordability is already a barrier, and a city that can't plan for its future is a city more likely to see that gap grow.
Easthampton's police department includes a community social worker — a position specifically designed to respond to mental health calls and connect residents in crisis with support rather than solely with law enforcement. This approach benefits the whole community, and particularly residents who are most likely to interact with the system in a moment of crisis without other resources to draw on.
If the override fails, two officers are laid off, most shifts run with just three officers covering the entire city, and the community social worker position is essentially eliminated. Detectives are pulled from active investigations to cover patrol gaps. There would be no officer coverage for community events including the Rag Shag Parade, Memorial Day, Winterfest, and Walk/Bike to School days.
The residents most affected by reduced community policing capacity tend to be those with the least access to private security or alternative resources — and those for whom the community social worker represents the most accessible path to mental health support.
The Easthampton municipal union endorses a yes vote on the override, which includes the Easthampton Firefighters Local 1876, Easthampton Education Association: Educators and Support, International Brotherhood of Police Local 99-367, Easthampton Supervisors Union and Local 367 Easthampton Patrolmen, Dispatch, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 93 Local 413: Administrative, Professional and Custodial.
Easthampton residents have real and fair frustrations about the state of the roads. Those frustrations don't disappear with a yes vote. What a yes vote does is prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
If the override fails, the Department of Public Works loses a road crew position. Line painting is reduced. Blacktop repair is cut. End-of-year paving projects — including work planned for Mayher, Bay, and Grove streets — are no longer feasible.
It's worth noting that residents without cars — who depend on safe, walkable streets and accessible infrastructure — often feel road deterioration most directly, and have the fewest alternatives when conditions worsen. Deferred maintenance compounds over time. A yes vote is a commitment to maintaining the capacity to do the work, so that what's already been deferred doesn't become permanent.
One of the most consistent concerns about the override is what it means for neighbors who genuinely can't afford the increase. That concern is real and deserves a real response.
Mayor Derby has proposed the Neighbor in Need program — a community-funded safety net, currently awaiting City Council approval, that would provide direct property tax relief for eligible residents facing hardship. It's funded entirely by voluntary donations and a voluntary tax bill checkoff. No cost to the city budget. No impact on tax rates.
Two paths exist for relief: one for elderly and disabled residents on fixed incomes, and one for any homeowner facing an unexpected financial crisis — job loss, medical emergency, domestic violence, or natural disaster — with household income at or below 80% of Hampshire County's area median income.
Massachusetts law also provides several existing relief programs for qualifying residents: the Senior Tax Deferral (Clause 41A), low-income senior exemptions (Clauses 17D and 41C), disabled veteran exemptions, and the Senior Circuit Breaker Credit, which can refund up to $2,820 annually — even for residents who don't normally owe state taxes. Contact the Easthampton Board of Assessors at 50 Payson Ave to find out what you qualify for.
A yes vote keeps services intact for the whole community. These programs are how the community works to make sure the cost of that yes vote doesn't fall hardest on the neighbors least able to bear it.
SHINE (Serving the Health Insurance Needs of Everyone) is a free program run through Easthampton's Council on Aging. Certified counselors sit down with residents and help them navigate Medicare: comparing plans, identifying savings, and connecting people with programs that can reduce premiums, copays, and prescription drug costs.
More than 500 Easthampton residents use SHINE every year. For many, one appointment makes a meaningful difference in what they pay for healthcare.
Without SHINE, seniors navigate Medicare alone, or rely on insurance brokers whose recommendations may be shaped by commissions rather than their best interests. The residents who needed that guidance most end up paying for it in higher premiums, larger copays, and drug costs they didn't have to pay.
If the override fails on June 9, this program is reduced or cut.
Getting to a doctor's appointment shouldn't depend on whether you can drive — or afford a rideshare. Easthampton's Council on Aging provides free ADA rides for seniors and residents with disabilities — transportation to medical appointments and essential services for people who can't get there independently.
For residents without a car, without family nearby, or whose disability prevents them from driving, this is what allows them to stay connected to their own healthcare. Replacing even a few medical trips per month via rideshare or taxi can become expensive. For residents on fixed incomes, that's not a manageable adjustment — it's a barrier. The residents who depend most on this service are precisely those with the fewest alternatives if it's reduced.
If the override fails on June 9, these rides are reduced.
Every year, Easthampton's Council on Aging provides free tax preparation for residents 55 and older — helping more than 350 households file accurately and access credits they're entitled to, including the Massachusetts Senior Circuit Breaker Credit, which can refund up to $2,820 in property taxes annually (even for residents who don't normally owe state taxes).
Private tax preparation can cost $150–$400 or more per tax season, depending on complexity. For many seniors, this program is also the only way they learn about relief programs they didn't know existed. Without someone walking them through it, those savings go unclaimed.
When this program is cut, it is lower-income seniors — those who can't afford a tax preparer and don't have family with the knowledge to help — who lose access to credits and savings that higher-income residents with accountants or financially savvy family members will still find. The gap widens.
If the override fails on June 9, this program is reduced or eliminated.
Every Friday, the Easthampton Council on Aging Enrichment Center is open — programs, activities, and connection for older residents. For residents living alone, especially those without the means to access private social activities or transportation to reach them, this is a meaningful part of the week.
Social connection has documented health benefits for older adults. When public programs that provide it are cut, residents with resources find alternatives. Residents without them often don't.
If the override fails on June 9, the Enrichment Center closes on Fridays.
Easthampton's Veterans Services office helps veterans and their families navigate the benefits they've earned — Chapter 115 financial aid for food, shelter, and medical care; the $2,500 Massachusetts disability annuity; and property tax exemptions that can reduce annual bills significantly. Many of these benefits require active navigation and paperwork.
For elderly, disabled, or isolated veterans, having someone come to them — walk them through the forms, explain what they qualify for, make the connection — is often the difference between receiving benefits they've earned and not receiving them at all. Veterans with family support or resources to access private benefits advisors can often find help through other channels. Elderly, isolated, or lower-income veterans typically cannot.
When home visits and outreach are reduced, that gap widens and benefits that were earned go unclaimed.
If the override fails on June 9, Veterans Services faces $10,079 in cuts and reduced capacity for home visits and outreach.
A failed override doesn't just mean fewer teachers in classrooms. It means the elimination or reduction of specialized support positions that some students depend on most.
According to Superintendent Balch's May 27 presentation, 35 positions would be eliminated or reduced across both schools, including speech language pathologists, school nurses, librarians, special education teachers, interventionists, the school psychologist, adjustment counselor, and band and music teachers at Mountain View — and ELA, math, health, technology, world language, special education, the librarian, and BRYT programming at EHS. BRYT (Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition) helps students return to school after serious mental health or medical crises. Two BRYT positions at EHS are at risk.
Critically, several of these licensed positions would not simply disappear — they would be converted into lower-paid paraprofessional or assistant roles. A student currently receiving services from a licensed speech language pathologist or nurse would instead receive support from an unlicensed assistant. For students with IEPs or complex needs, that distinction truly matters.
Private speech therapy can run $100–$200 per session depending on insurance. Private educational therapy for students with learning disabilities can run $60–$150 per hour. Most families cannot absorb those costs, which means students who lose these services at school are unlikely to find them anywhere else. The students most affected are those whose families have the fewest resources to fill the gap privately.
School adjustment counselors are the adults in the building who notice when a student is struggling and do something about it. They connect kids to mental health resources, help families navigate complex systems, and intervene early, inside the school, where students already are.
For students whose families lack adequate insurance coverage or can't find an in-network provider — a real and documented challenge in western Massachusetts — the school counselor may be the only mental health support available to them. Out-of-pocket therapy can cost $150–$300 per session for families without coverage or with high copays.
When the school counselor position is eliminated, those students often don't find an alternative. They go without. The gap between students with access to mental health support and those without grows wider, and it grows along income lines.
If the override fails on June 9, the school adjustment counselor position is among those at risk.
After-school clubs, enrichment programs, and extracurricular activities are where many students find their people — a robotics team, a student newspaper, a drama club, a community service group. These programs are part of what makes school a place students want to be, and they're available to every student when they exist inside the school.
Private alternatives, where they exist, can run $500–$2,000 per program per year depending on the focus of the program. When school-based programs are cut, students whose families can afford private alternatives find them. Students whose families can't simply lose access. The community these programs build — across grades, across neighborhoods, across differences — also gets smaller, and it gets smaller unevenly.
If the override fails on June 9, clubs and extracurriculars face major cuts or elimination.
School sports give students a team to belong to, a season to work toward, and experiences that carry beyond the field or court. When athletics are part of the school, every student has access — a kid whose family can't afford a travel team can still play.
Private club sports cost an average of over $1,000 per child per season according to the Aspen Institute's 2024 youth sports cost survey — up 46% since 2019. For families who can't absorb that cost, losing school athletics doesn't mean finding a substitute. It means the program disappears entirely, while remaining available to students whose families can pay privately. Access to organized sports — and all the development that comes with it — becomes another thing divided by income.
If the override fails on June 9, school athletics face major cuts or elimination.
Band. Chorus. Art class. Theater. These programs exist inside the school so that every student has access to them, regardless of what their family can afford. When arts and music live in the school, any student can be in the chorus or learn ceramics or perform in the spring musical.
When they're cut, private lessons can be expensive — maybe $1,200–$3,000 per year — and community classes can run $600–$1,500. These programs don't disappear for every student; they disappear for the students whose families can't replace them privately, while remaining accessible to those who can. Access to arts education becomes another thing divided along income lines.
EHS Student Council President Walter Baker said at the May 13 School Committee meeting: "While those things may sometimes be labeled as 'nonessential,' I can tell you that as a student, they're absolutely essential to the experience that students have in our schools."
If the override fails on June 9, arts and music face major cuts or elimination and the families that depend on them most will be the least likely to have the ability to supplement them outside of school.