Deerfield Finance Committee Approves $4 Million in FY2027 Budget Lines at Joint Meeting

DEERFIELD — March 16, 2026 — Deerfield Finance Committee and Select Board jointly approve 15 FY2027 budget lines totaling more than $4 million, with a late reversal on Town Clerk staffing. Meeting on March 16 at the municipal offices on Conway Street, the two boards unanimously approved fixed-cost appropriations ranging from $5,000 for interest on temporary loans to $1,102,846 for school group insurance — a 8.23 percent increase — and $613,255 for town group insurance, up 13.13 percent after the town's Hampshire Group trust added a deductible to limit what would have been a 16 percent increase. An initial motion to fund Town Clerk Salaries at $110,513 by cutting the Assistant Town Clerk from 12.5 to 10 hours was amended 4-1 and ultimately passed 5-0 at $114,814 after Town Clerk Cassie Sanderell warned "we looked at it one more time and both sat there going, I don't know if this is really going to be enough" given a heavy upcoming election calendar. Finance Committee Chair Julie Chalfant then presented a slide-show analysis of Deerfield-owned buildings — the 1821 Meeting House and the current town offices at 8 Conway Street — as potential South County Senior Center locations, with annual maintenance-based rent estimates of $44,000 and $84,000 respectively, as alternatives to a proposed 112 Amherst Road site in Sunderland whose all-in annual cost Finance Committee member James Cambias described as "more than two standard deviations away from the others."