Deerfield Finance Committee Recommends $20.3M Budget, Rejects Senior Center Override

DEERFIELD -- April 27, 2026, Deerfield's Finance Committee recommended a $20,332,069 omnibus budget for fiscal year 2027 at an April 27 joint session with the Selectboard, while advancing two Proposition 2½ override articles and rejecting a third. The six-member committee, chaired by Julie Chalfant, voted 5-1 to recommend Article 9, which would appropriate an additional $400,000 to move South County EMS fully onto the operating budget, and voted unanimously against recommending Article 6, which would have allocated $103,253 for a new South County Senior Center location in Sunderland, with all six members citing fiscal concerns. "I do believe the voters should speak on this," said member Mark Brennan, who said he was voting his conviction that the expenditure is not fiscally prudent rather than simply advancing the measure to the ballot. The committee also voted 5-0 to reduce the Conservation Agent position from 18 hours to 12 hours per week at a cost of $21,280, and defeated all three citizen petitions related to energy codes, including proposals to replace or rescind the Stretch Energy Code, citing risks to the town's green community status and a pending $300,000 grant tied to Frontier Regional School.