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Daily DigestYuck!
 There's a winter storm warning in effect until 7 a.m. on Thursday with 2 to 4 inches of snow expected. Be prepared for a messy morning commute as freezing rain and sleet move through the region. The morning commute will be slippery — drive careful!
Some New York schools, including Hoosick Falls Central School and St. Mary's Academy in Hoosick Falls have already canceled classes.
All North County schools are closed; Pittsfield, Lanesborough, Berkshire Hills, Southern Berkshire and Central Berkshire school districts are closed. |
Duff'em If You've Got'em
 North Adams Regional Hospital went smoke-free Monday — so did all its sister sites, from Sweet Brook to Northern Berkshire Family Practice to the Women's Exchange. No ashtrays, no smoking: No butts about it. |
Wanted: Eagle Eyes
MassWildlife's annual eagle count runs Dec. 31 to Jan. 14. Anyone sighting one of the regal birds in Massachusetts is asked to participate.
Send date, time, location and town of eagle sightings, number of birds, whether juvenile or adult and observer's contact information to Mass.wildlife@state.ma.us. |
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 iBerkshires accepts submissions about local events, news and opinion pieces. There are openings for freelance work, too, for qualified candidates. E-mail tdaniels@iberkshires.com to find out more. |
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Other StuffMars Rovers Mark 5 Years
 Spirit and Opportunity have been trekking the red planet for half a decade. Spirit hit the 5-year mark on Sunday; Opportunity will on Jan. 24. |
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North Adams Slashes $300K From BudgetBy Tammy Daniels - October 28, 2008
iBerkshires Staff
 | | Mayor John Barrett III explains cuts to this year's budget to the City Council. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council slashed some $300,000 from this year's budget on Tuesday night, with warnings to prepared for more.
"This is cut to the bone, but we haven't cut into the bone ... yet," said Mayor John Barrett III in describing the reductions made across departments. But he warned the councilors on presenting the cuts, "I believe I will be back again."
The reductions won't cost current jobs but it will mean the loss of positions, said the mayor. Other cuts will come through supplies and training. For example, the public safety and public services departments will be cut $30,000 to $35,000; the mayor's office is losing $1,000 in expenses.
Further expense reductions are being reviewed, such as privatizing grass cutting, but there isn't much more to cut in terms of personnel, he said, because of how small departments have become over the years.
The city is being hit like others around the nation as the economy crumbles; Gov. Deval Patrick recently enacted a billion in state cuts across the board because of falling revenue. While those cuts out of the state's $28 billion budget didn't include local aid, the pinch is still being felt here because it slashed grants.
The school system has already taken a $100,000 hit, said Barrett, because it lost grants that supplemented salaries. (The school system was not included in the round of cuts Barrett presented Tuesday night.)
Barrett said further cuts, if Patrick is supplied the so-called 9C powers he's requested from the Legislature, would have a million-dollar impact on the city's $35 million budget. Some of the cuts he requested were in preparation of that possibility.
The mayor estimated that revenues will be down 4 percent; earlier this month, he said excise taxes alone could be off $100,000 or more because people aren't buying cars. (Williamstown Town Manager Peter Fohlin warned of a possible downturn in excise revenue at the Selectmen's meeting on Monday.)
While the city has had some good news — locking in heating oil the other day for a (shockingly) low $2.54 a gallon — it's at loggerheads with the teachers' and police union over insurance and salary negotiations.
The mayor told the council that the city had put on the table the same rates the nonunion employees had been offered and has rejected the unions' desire to join the state's Group Insurance Commission, at least for this year.
Instead, the city offered the unions an opportunity to try different health insurance options, mostly Blue Cross Blue Shield, with lower rates and high co-pays for a six-month period to try them out.
The unions, Barrett said, had then filed a grievance saying the city was violating a negotiating agreement and Freedom of Information Act requests for information on the city's self-insured program and claims.
The mayor has been battling the unions over the GIC option for several months, saying it isn't clear the city would save any money and noting the unions want the city to jump its co-pay coverage from 70 to 85 percent.
Several of the councilors have been intriqued by the idea of joining the GIC, which was opened to municipalities as part of the governor's Municipal Partnership Act.
Councilor Michael Bloom asked if it would be beneficial to at least adopt a law allowing the unions to negotiate together on the insurance, as required by the state, as a way of being prepared. The mayor rejected that idea: "I want a deal before I come into this council."
"Why wouldn't I do it if there was a great savings?" said Barrett. "There is no great savings. ... I'm not going to finance it on the backs of the taxpayers."
He speculated that the retirees hadn't been completely filled in on the GIC's effect on their coverage. "I think if the rank and file knew what was going on they'd be shocked, utterly shocked."
The mayor expected to have more cuts when he came back before the council for the city's tax classification. He estimated that the average taxpayer could see a $30 to $40 increase in property tax this year.
In other business:
- The council welcomed a delegation from its Italian Sister City of Tremosine
- Councilor Lisa Blackmer read a council resolution recommending a no vote on Question 1 that was approved by the council unanimously. (Councilor Ronald Boucher was absent.)
- Councilor Gailanne Cariddi read a resolution stating the city of North Adams welcomes "immigrants and their contributions to our city" and supports solutions to "strengthening our immigration system." The resolution was prompted by the Welcoming Massachusetts campaign, which seeks to highlight the contributions of legal immigrants. The resolution passed 7-1, with Councilor Clark Billings voting no. It will be passed on to the county's congressional delegation.
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I see a lot of people to afraid to post their name,if one want to hide then they should not be able to publish..
Back to city budgets, its time to stop the high retirement packages and the forever health insurance for city employees. Social security and Medicare is good enough for the citizens and it should be good enough for retired city and state employees who have held their plush secure jobs for many years without the possibility of being fired. They should have saved some of their checks for retirement, as the rest of the real working world had /has to do.
City employees have the best of all worlds, secured positions, the best health packages and a retirement that better than doubles the average social security check.
It’s time for a reality check and the doing away with the double standards that apply to not just this city but all cities and state employees.
| | from: Philip Carbin Sr. | on: 11-06-2008 |
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| City Council has no power without the mayor permission. The mayor rules by iron fist. For all of you who thing he is such a great mayor think again. Because of him he has cost the city of North Adams millions. | | from: Citizen | on: 11-02-2008 |
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Unlike everyone else will post my name with my comments. I was at the City Council meeting specifically to hear the budget items. Before you pass judgement you should know what really happened.
The Mayor strongly stated that he will not let the fiscal woes of the state and the city fall on the backs of the taxpayers. With the HUGE deficit in the state as well as the city we could be in much more trouble than we are. $30 - $40 in property taxes is not that significant - it could have been much worse. The cuts from the budget will not impact the citizens virtually at all.
Your services will not be affected (i.e. police, fire, EMS, city services, etc.). The $30,000 cuts came mostly from education and supply portions of public safety departments.
Our city and our country is in a vital position right now. We should get more involved in our government but we should do it the right way. I was the only resident at the meeting last Tuesday night. The best government is one that works in conjunction with it's citizens but in order for that to happen citizens need to do their part as well.
It is our duty, as citizens, to educate ourselves before we make judgements. I encourage all of you to educate yourselves on what's happening. Attend the meetings, obtain information online or go to City Hall and look at the information yourselves. Don't rely solely on the media and/or heresay. If you experience it yourself you will know what's REALLY happening. | | from: Brian Flagg | on: 10-31-2008 |
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I have only been in this city for about 30 years so I can only speak from what I have experienced over that time.
In my opinion the City of North Adams has been served by Mayor Barrett, in all his time in office, well, in fact very well.
Look at Pittsfield which finally, finally has a Mayor and board that are worthy of being called that.
We, citizens of North Adams, have had a mayor that serves the city and all of us very well and
I for one hope he will continue to do so.
| | from: btwo | on: 10-30-2008 |
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| The mayor pulls in around $90 thousand. | | from: 90 | on: 10-30-2008 |
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"Councilor Michael Bloom asked if it would be beneficial to at least adopt a law allowing the unions to negotiate together on the insurance, as required by the state, as a way of being prepared. The mayor rejected that idea: "I want a deal before I come into this council."
Why? Isn't the council there to evaluate the mayor's decisions?
In regards of Billings vote, are you surprised? Hasn't he been opened enough with his racist remarks?
In regards of the mayor's pay, we get what we pay. I wouldn't mind raising a new mayor's salary, becuase in the long run, a capable mayor would manage resources wisely and save in long run in other areas of waste.
Finally, this is not the first time the city hides information that should be available to the public. We get what we deserve. Vote this man out | | from: not surprised | on: 10-30-2008 |
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Billings voted against recognizing the contributions of legal immigrants? Wuh?!?
Somebody tell me why this reactionary old crank who kills viewer's brain cells when they accidentally tune into channel 15 is still on the city council. I thought we voted him off in '95 for a reason. | | from: White Sheet | on: 10-29-2008 |
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| If someone thinks the mayor makes too much money, they don't know what he makes or many hours he works for that money, we're getting a good deal on that end. We cannot cut the school budget any more, Middle School has suffered just from the last cuts, I can't imagine anything else that can be done to cut more out. The kids, and ultimately all of us are paying the price for what has been done already. | | from: Becky C | on: 10-29-2008 |
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| How come Public Safety and Public Services will get cut $30,000 to $35,000 and the Mayor's Office only gets $1,000. The Mayor should take a cut in pay if he's that worried about money, this could save the City of North Adams thousands of dollars, if not more. Also get rid of all the GPS that the Mayor spent thousands of dollars on so he can keep tract of his employees every move. | | from: Citizen | on: 10-29-2008 |
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