City officials convened on Tuesday, April 2nd as the Pittsfield City Council and School Committee gathered jointly to assess the city’s financial state in compliance with the City Charter. Mayor Peter Marchetti underscored the ramifications of maintaining a level funded budget wherein funding remains the same compared to the fiscal year ’24 budget. Notable consequences of this approach include anticipated cuts to various essential services within Pittsfield.
Speaking at the joint meeting, Mayor Marchetti said “Fire Department would be a reduction in overtime and that would clearly mean that one station would be closed on a rotating basis on a weekly basis. Police Department reduction in overtime and the the reduction of 11 officers.”
Among other areas facing potential reduction under a level funded scenario are Public Services and Utilities, the Building Inspector’s office, and the Berkshire Athenaeum. For the public schools, adhering to a level funded budget would necessitate a $6.4 million uptick. However, Mayor Marchetti’s set a cap at $2.7 million, revealing a significant $3.7 million deficit. Explaining this, Mayor Marchetti said “Why is that you say? Well, I think this has been pretty much talked about an awful lot as well. Funding sources for the School Department um are either City appropriation or Chapter 70 money in fiscal year ’24, we saw that our Chapter 70 money increased by $6.6 million. For fiscal year ’25, the increase was only 650,000. I think if you combine that $6 million reduction with the fact that the SR grant funds are no longer available after June 30th, you can see where we’re at at the school side.”
The conversation also delved into the prospect of tax hikes. Mayor Marchetti presented a retrospective analysis spending the past five years, focusing on metrics such as the average single family value, tax rates, and the average tax bill. Notably, the average single family value surged by nearly 38% from fiscal year ’20 to fiscal year ’24. Despite a 6.4% decrease in tax rates during this period, the average tax bill rose by $222 annually.
During deliberations, Councilor Earl Persip III urged caution, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful decision making before implementing cuts. “We’re talking about cutting things, I think we need to understand who uses those services, who needs those services, before we just cut them, because the people that call us and contact us think we don’t need those services. I think it’s important to understand just because 50 people call you about something, there’s still fourty-something-thousand others out there and there’s a handful that would use those services.”
Finance Director Matthew Kerwood provided an overview of the fiscal year ’25 budget highlighting key revenue streams such as $2.5 million in free cash in total State aid exceeding $73 million. Kerwood also flagged substantial expenditures anticipated for fiscal year ’25, including a more than $3 million surge in wages from fiscal year 24 and a 5.2% uptick in health insurance costs among others. These figures remain subject to change, pending Mayor Marchetti’s budget presentation slated for May 14th.
