After weeks of hearings, the body on Tuesday approved Mayor Peter Marchetti’s budget for Berkshire County’s largest community. While the budget is up 2.8% over the current fiscal year, councilors were keen to contextualize efforts to keep increases as low as possible amid inflation, stagnant wages, and an ever-rising cost of living.
Ward 1 City Councilor Kenny Warren explained the current mayoral administration’s budgets have increased by lower percentages compared to the percent increases of budgets under the past administration.
“The last two budgets under the current administration and city council have been less than the budget of the previous administration. If anybody will remember, it was 11% in fiscal year ’24, I think it was, and it was .072% last year. It's even under that this year, it's .069%- Not a lot, but we're going down. So, we have cut back.”
Warren pointed to savings initiatives such as the council’s 2024 backing of Marchetti’s plan to shift from an unlimited curbside waste collection pickup policy to a toter system. That switch was specifically aimed at cutting collection costs and increasing recycling revenues.
“We had a decent savings in the recycling budget. You might not see that is because when we save money there, if there's increases in salaries in a contract or something else in another department, that money gets taken up. So, the public, when they look at the budget, they might not see that recycling savings, but we did that, and it looks like we're on a path to save additional monies next year. That was a win-win for the city.”
Warren then turned to the city’s roads, oft a subject of criticism as the Department of Public Services battles winter-grown potholes throughout the spring.
“We put $2 million from free cash. When we put free cash, that means we don't have to raise it through the tax rate. So, there's a savings we also, thanks to the mayor and the commissioner, is we were able to get the state to do significant work in the city of Pittsfield that you don't normally see, and you're going to you're seeing work on North Street from essentially first street all the way to this the line with Lanesborough. You're seeing East Street, you're seeing South Street. You're seeing significant work that the state and when the state does it, and it wasn't their responsibility, that's taking onus off the local taxpayers.”
Warren correctly predicted the body would unanimously back the budget.
“Some people aren't going to be happy about that, but like I said, it's one of the lowest increases we've had in recent years. And I think all of us up here with the mayor, and all of us up here made a significant – and the department heads, obviously, they had to work with the mayor to come up with the budget – made a significant effort to do the best that they could.”
The vote came after a plea from Pittsfielder Tom Perrea during the open mic portion of the meeting to keep the community’s most vulnerable in mind as it decided on its expenditures for fiscal year 2026.
“I hate to sound like an ogre, but my taxes have risen by over $1,000 in the past two years. My wife and I, we were in a profession where we can afford the increase. What I'm concerned about is that sometimes people are land poor. I think we have a large population of people their own homes in Pittsfield, and they're living check to check, and they make decisions based on, do I pay for my heating oil? Do I pay for my electricity? Do I pay for my medicine?”
In other votes Tuesday night, the council approved increases to Pittsfield’s water and sewer rates by 7% and 6%, respectively, in a 7-3 split. Councilors Patrick Kavey, Matthew Wrinn, and the aforementioned Warren voted against the hikes.
The new fiscal year begins July 1st.
Audio from the meeting is provided by Pittsfield Community Television.
