Bianchi Proposes $141.2 Million Budget

The mayor provided his proposed budget to the City Council on Friday afternoon.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Daniel Bianchi is requesting a $141.2 million budget for fiscal 2015.

The proposal is 2.8 percent more than this year, but Bianchi calls it a "maintenance budget."

Particularly, paying off debt is up $1.2 million and employee pensions are up by nearly a half million, Bianchi said.

"That is the bulk of the increase," the mayor told the City Council on Friday afternoon when he submitted the budget request.

In total, the proposal is about $4 million more than last year with $2.6 million increasing on the city side and $1 million increasing on the school.

The city's budget is proposed at $75.8 million and the school is proposed at $56.5 million. A total of $8.8 million of the budget is wrapped in with enterprise accounts.

An additional $6.5 million is proposed to be raised for such things as regional school transportation, other postemployment benefits (OPEB), regional planning, some community development work and abatements. With that $6.5 million, the entire amount raised is bumped up to $147.8 million.

Meanwhile, he is asking to borrow $10 million for capital expenses. Those would include $500,000 for downtown parking management improvements, $300,000 for park improvements, $270,000 for five new rapid response vehicles for the Fire Department and $200,000 for the next phase of the North Street streetscape. The capital plan also calls to rebuild the Department of Public Works garage.

"While I can characterize it in one instance as a maintenance budget, I think that it is also a budget that is looking to the future," Bianchi said of the capital projects he believes will create efficiencies in operations.

The rapid response vehicles, for example, would be for the Fire Department's response to medical calls. Instead of sending a full engine, the rapid response vehicles could be sent instead.

"Rather than dispatching fire trucks to the 3,800 medical calls each year, we will be doing so with smaller vehicles," he said.

Another example Bianchi used is the purchase of software that will streamline all of the permitting online.

Teacher of the Month: Cindy Chevett

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:04PM / Saturday, August 31, 2024

Cindy Chevett has been with Head Start her entire career. She says teaching is challenging but also very rewarding. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire County Head Start preschool teacher Cindy Chevett has been selected as the August Teacher of the Month. 

 

The Teacher of the Month series, in collaboration with Berkshire Community College, will run for the next nine months and will feature distinguished teachers nominated by community members. You can nominate a teacher here. 

 

To Chevett, the best part of being a teacher is seeing her students achieve even just the little things, such as writing the letter E or their name. 

 

"It is the best job ever," she says with a smile and tears in her eyes as she says, "I love seeing them achieve."  

 

She said although teaching can be challenging, the classroom environment is very fun and the job is very rewarding. 

 

"There's children that come in and can't really speak so that you can understand them, and modeling, and when they leave the classroom, you can understand them. That was one of my best achievements with the child," Chevett said. 

 

In Chevett's classroom, the students take control of their learning, instilling in them a love of learning.