SOUTH HADLEY, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- The town of South Hadley will disable comments on all town social media pages starting July 1, including the South Hadley Police Department’s Facebook page.

The town said posts will continue, including public safety updates and emergency alerts, but online engagement can count as public record. Officials said the town can no longer afford the software used to archive that engagement.

South Hadley Town Administrator Lisa Wong said South Hadley’s social media pages are part of the public record. “Our social media pages are part of the public record, so to comply with state law, we actually have to record every single post and all the comments and if a comment’s deleted, we’re supposed to have a record of that,” she explained.

In a post edited Tuesday, the South Hadley Police Department said the change comes after the town reviewed Massachusetts public records law. The post said municipalities must retain records tied to social media platforms, including public comments, reactions, messages. and other engagement.

South Hadley uses third-party archiving software to retain those records. The town said the software costs $10,000 a year. Wong said the town cannot continue paying for the software because of budget reductions tied to the fiscal year 2027 budget and a $3 million budget gap. “We have tens of thousands of dollars that we need to figure out how to eliminate just in sort of IT costs alone and we’ve got probably like $3 million across the town that we’re trying to figure out how to cut as well,” she noted.

Police departments in Holyoke, Monson, Palmer and Worcester have also turned off comments on their Facebook pages. Wong said she cannot speak to why other communities may have turned off comments, but she described the public records requirement as an “unfunded mandate” because towns have to preserve online records and pay for the tools to do it. “It’s weird to say that it’s coming from social media, but I do hope that, you know, folks will continue to look at social media and continue to find other ways to say thank you to a police officer, maybe in person,” she added.

The police department said in its post that the change is not something it wanted. It said it will continue posting public safety information and community updates. After June 30, residents with questions, concerns, or information will need to contact the department directly.

The town said it is looking for cheaper, AI-based solutions that could allow comments to return in the future. For now, South Hadley’s social media pages will continue sharing information without hosting public comments under posts.

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