PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council preliminarily approved the last five departmental budgets with unanimous votes last Thursday.

The final vote on the $215,955,210 spending plan — which includes a $200,000 cut to the schools — will be taken on June 11.  

The FY25 budget is a 5 percent increase from the previous year. Though a January petition asking for a close-to-level-funded budget was initially a stressor for Mayor Peter Marchetti in his first month of office, he said it was a good thing.

"The Jan. 9th petition to create chaos in my world about developing a budget was actually a good thing," he said. "Because I got to go about doing the budget, trying to make cuts, and I got to say, 'If you don't like it, blame the City Council. That's their directive.'"

The Pittsfield Police Department's nearly $15 million budget generated the most conversation, including an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the Shotspotter and body camera line by $250,000. Other departments were supported with little or no discussion.

Councilors also preliminarily passed several orders from Marchetti:

• To appropriate $2.5 million from free cash to reduce the FY25 tax rate
• To borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $10,192,500 for FY25 general fund capital expenditures
• To borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $7,700,000 for FY25 enterprise fund capital expenditures
• To appropriate and transfer $234,000 from the public works stabilization fund to the Department of Public Services for new equipment
• To authorize the use and expenditure of the city's current reviving funds for FY25
• To appropriate $249,600 for parking-related expenditures for FY25

Budget deliberations DAY 1
Budget deliberations DAY 2
Budget deliberations DAY 3

Police

The Pittsfield Police Department budget of $14,998,410 is a $633,737, or 4.41 percent, increase from the previous year.  It was preliminarily approved after surviving one proposal for a reduction.  

Councilor at Large Earl Persip III felt it was a solid budget and one of the better ones that the police have produced. He pointed out that the department made cuts in areas that were not fully spent in the past, adding, "I thank you for doing your due diligence with your budget."

"Your budget gets criticized a lot and I've criticized it in the past and I will gladly criticize it again if I think it needs it but I'm not going to do it just to do it," he said.

Persip asked if Chief Thomas Dawley was comfortable with the budget, which triggered a round of laughter from the crowd.

"I'm not comfortable but we will make it work somehow," Dawley said.

Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren motioned to reduce the line that deals with ShotSpotter by $250,000, as he feels that it is a luxury and may not be the most confident for providing data in court.

Dawley explained that there have been 40 activations this year that are sometimes false positives "but typically if we get a call for ShotSpotter there's evidence of a shooting." He feels it is "very effective" and pointed to a situation that occurred on Onota Street a couple of days prior when a gunshot was picked up from a man having a mental health episode.

Warren was the only vote in favor of the reduction. Other councilors see it as a useful tool and some are willing to review the data to determine its effectiveness but are not ready to do away with it.
 

Department of Public Services

The Department of Public Services Budget of $11,382,122 is a $286,559, or 2.58 percent, increase from the previous year. It was preliminarily approved with no discussion.
 

DPU Water Treatment

The water treatment budget of $6,544,196 is a $344,458, or 5.56 percent, increase from the previous year. It was preliminarily approved with no discussion.

DPU Waste Water

The waste water budget of $10,977,109 is a $16,583, or 0.15 percent, decrease from the previous year.  It was preliminarily approved with little discussion.

Sewer Enterprise

The sewer enterprise budget of $1,008,169 is a $6,013, or 0.60 percent, increase from the previous year.  It was preliminarily approved with no discussion.

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