PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is facing some significant financial challenges in the next few years and the state is helping to overcome the hurdles.

 

On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito signed a community compact agreement with the city that will give it $25,000 to work with the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management to develop long-range financial planning. 

 

"First we will create customized financial forecasting models that will include a review of historical data and an assessment of assumptions. This model, once created, can be monitored year after year and help us develop long-range financial planning priorities," Mayor Linda Tyer said. 

 

"Our second best practice is to improve budget transparency. Budgets are policy documents and fund priorities and expectations of the community."

 

The city's levy ceiling has just crossed with the debt limit, a rarity that will limit the amount of taxation possible without an override. The city can raise taxes about $6 million more before hitting that ceiling, but that ceiling is expected to rise without a significant boost in taxable value.

 

With rising costs in nearly all sectors of the city budget, that puts the administration in a situation of find ways to make the numbers work.

 

"The timing of this partnership couldn't have come at a better time. We are grappling with emerging and significant financial constraints and I am confident that the work that is completed through the community compact will position us for better decision making," Tyer said.

 

Pittsfield is just the latest to sign compacts with the state — in fact, the city is the 195th to sign. Every city and town in the commonwealth has the opportunity to pick from a large list of "best practices" to implement. The state will fund the consulting or technology needs with the agreement that the practices will be implemented.

 

"It's funded. This is not an unfunded mandate, which is not something we support in state government either. Both the governor and I were selectmen in our hometowns so we knew this had to be a voluntary program and it had to be funded," Polito said. "We provide the resources for you to be able to engage the Collins Center for technical assistance."

 

While Pittsfield has its own challenges and opportunities for other state resources, smaller towns don't have the professional staff to take on major projects. In Hinsdale, the town has never had a master plan developed.

 

"Hinsdale is a very small town and we just brought on a town administrator. So we are actually coming into the 21st century almost. With this best practice, we are working on master planning and open space protection. We are working on budgeting and capital transportation," Selectwoman Laurel Scialabba said.

 

Scialabba signed a contract of Hinsdale's own in the City Council chambers on Tuesday that will provide the resources to guide a working group through the process while also helping financial staff create a new "comprehensive budget system."

 

"The Community Compact Program is an initiative that we put together and it is intended to reach all cities and towns," Polito said.

 

Cheshire is another small town with limited access to state grant programs. Selectwoman Carol Francesconi said her town also doesn't have a master plan to help guide decision making. But that will change after she, too, signed an agreement with Polito.

 

"Cheshire has grown so much that we have wanted, for a long time, a master plan so we can contain our growth so it is done in a proper way and to the best advantage to the town of Cheshire," Francesconi said.

Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch was the last of four to sign agreements Tuesday, and the 198th statewide. For his town the "best practice" being adopted is for complete streets.

He said there is a big push in the community with residential areas and Williams College to be more friendly to all modes of transportation and the complete streets program develops plans for roads ensuring there are sidewalks and bike lanes for all modes.

"We're thrilled to be joining with a focus on complete streets. There is a strong interest in our community for this over time. We've already had some good partnerships and teamwork on projects where we've gotten close and this will let us get to the next level of doing that work," Hoch said.

 

Polito is a former selectman so she has seen firsthand how some of those issues impact each town. But, she also knows that not every town in Massachusetts faces the same things.

 

The Community Compact Program was crafted by Gov. Charlie Baker, also a former selectman, and Polito as a way to improve the partnership between state and local officials. She said the administration has also vowed to increase its support for funding programs such as Chapter 90 for roads and Chapter 70 for schools.

 

"The best practices is one part of it. The resource sharing is another part. We just need to give you all of the tools as possible," Polito said.

 

State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier said the Berkshires are a place where groups of people work together to solve problems. That partnership extends to the legislature and the rest of state government. The community compact program, which is funded by the Legislature, is one of the ways to improve that teamwork, she said.

 

"We get it. We have to work as a team to get things done because we are geographically isolated," Farley-Bouvier said.

 

While both Farley-Bouvier and Tyer mentioned that the Berkshires are a ways from Boston, Polito said the administration wants all corners of the state to be as vibrant as the state's capital.

 

"Our administration cares about the whole state. There is a lot of activity in eastern Massachusetts. We know our capital city is really booming with activity. We want to see every part of our state have that spark, that excitement," Polito said.

 

This is the fourth community compact signing Polito attended in the Berkshires. The largest was in Great Barrington when 17 South County towns signed agreements, vowing to work on sharing services. In October, another round of compacts were signed with Clarksburg, Adams, and Charlemont. And in December, North Adams and a number of hilltowns signed.

 

"It is not the state telling the cities and towns that they know what is best for you. It is you deciding what you want to focus on," Polito said.