The mayor's office budget of $207,501 is up by $6,655 from last year. 

 

More than that was increased for salaries for the three positions - the mayor, the director of administrative services, and the executive assistant. Those salary increases total $7,049. The office's budget cuts supplies and travel for a total of $394.

 

The latter two positions both saw a 5.6 percent increase in salary. Councilor At Large Melissa Mazzeo questioned how that broke down. 

 

Director of Personnel Michael Taylor said that increase is due to the City Council's earlier decision for a cost of living increase for non-exempt employees. The move was made to move the entire salary scale - not for the individual positions. The council had voted across the move the entire management pay scale up by 1.5 percent for last year and 1.5 percent for the upcoming year. 

 

Those increases are added to whatever step increases the employees have been eligible.

 

"It represents the cost of living adjustments as well as a step increase," Kerwood said.

 

Mazzeo voted against the cost of living increases and repeated her objections Wednesday night.

 

"This whole budget is pretty bare bones except for all of these increases in salaries. I feel this is not the best time to be doing this," Mazzeo said.

 

The mayor's salary has seen its first increase since Tyer had taken office and shows a 2.1 percent increase. The City Council had voted on a policy years ago to increase the position's salary alongside the consumer price index. However, Tyer had not been accepting the raise and hadn't been writing it into the budget. 

 

Last year, Council Vice President John Krol noted that lack of movement in the salary, saying that by not taking the increase that undermined the council's policy intended to keep the position's pay in line with inflation.

The City Council's budget of $103,892 remains level.

 

Councilor At Large Melissa Mazzeo posed a question to the advertising budget. That is legal advertisements the state requires the city to post for public hearings.

 

Mazzeo pointed out that so far 83 percent of that budget line had been spent. And she questioned which hearings are required to be paid by the city. City Clerk Michele Cetti said that when it comes to hearings regarding a commercial property, the company pays for those. But, the city pays the cost of such things as Wednesday's notice of a public hearing on the budget. Cetti said the bill to advertise Wednesday's hearing is $212. 

 

The City Solicitor's budget of $222,007 is increasing by $4,194, which is entirely for the salary increase of the executive legal secretary. For the last two years, the city has been contracting with Donovan and O'Connor for legal services, a switch from previously have an in-house person serving in the role.

 

That contract is set to expire in June. Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell pressed the mayor to put that contract out to bid. But, the mayor said she has no intentions of doing so.

 

"I would think that in order to save the taxpayers money I think it would be a good idea," Connell said. "I think it would be appropriate and show good faith to the taxpayers if we sent it out to bid."

 

The council also questioned the reduction of $1 from the city solicitor salary line and the assistant city solicitor line. Both of those were placeholders because the roles were being filled by the contract but a person hadn't been occupying those roles.

 

Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood said that he zeroed those lines out because the positions are still in city code. He said there is no reason to put a dollar there as a placeholder.

 

"For whatever reason, that became a practice but it is not a necessity," Kerwood said.

The city clerk's budget of $329,128 is $2,606 more than the current year. All of it is attributed to salary raised for just about everybody in the department. However, the City Clerk and the assistant clerk registrar salaries are decreasing. 

 

Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell motioned to cut the line for city code updates by $3,000 but failed to get the majority of councilors on board. His motion failed 7-4. Connell said only about half of the budget is expected to be spent this year given the actuals so far. City Clerk Michele Cetti, however, said that figure is difficult to predict from year to year.

 

"We don't know how many updates there will be done to the code. It is done periodically. It depends on how many ordinances are passed, that will determine the cost," Cetti said.

 

Connell, however, said he would rather see the line budgeted more closely to the previous year's actuals than overbudgeting and having whatever is left roll into free cash.

 

"I think to overestimate our expenses and at times underestimate our revenues so it goes to free cash, I am not in favor of that. I like to keep things as close as we can without burning bridges," Connell said.

 

Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli questioned election custodians. He said what that $2,754 expense is used for. Cetti said that an extra custodian is required at the polling places during elections in case there are any issues in the building. 

 

"They are city custodians. It is an overtime shift," Cetti said.

 

 

 

The Veterans Services budget is decreasing by $31,981.

The $1,051,073 budget is seeing its biggest decrease in program expenses to the tune of $37,750. 

The budget did see an increase in the veterans' agent salary, but a reduction in the administrative assistant salary. It has an increase fo rental expenses and flags but a decrease in office equipment maintenance, supplies, and awards and declarations. 

 

The budget is the only one reviewed on Wednesday night to see an overall reduction.

 

Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell had nothing but praise the budget requested by Veterans Service Officer James Clark.

 

Connell said the changes to the budget reflect accurate spending for the current year and he believes all budget should more closely align with the actual totals from a previous year.

 

The Culture Development budget of $108,558 is increasing by $3,473. The entire increase is for salaries for the director and the administrative assistant to the tune of $4,173. Offsetting that increase somewhat includes $700 worth of cuts to the supplies and telephone budget lines.

 

The City Council passed that without discussion.

 

 

The library's proposed $1,075,497 budget is an increase of $30,442. 

That budget had led to the testiest conversation of the evening Thursday when Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell took exception to the way Library Director Alex Reczkowski was transferring money from the personnel line to the unclassified part of his current budget - a move that can be done with mayoral approval.

Reczkowski said he had two people leave his department in the middle of the year and the positions weren't filled for a period of time. He filled in on the shifts and he isn't eligible for overtime. That money wasn't being spent on the two employees.

 

Toward the end of the year, Reczkowski transferred the approximately $14,000 of unspent funds to the unclassified account to move along a backlog of projects, such as new branding, the development of a new website, and cataloging microfilm that hasn't been available to the public.

 

"I worked those hours. The reason I worked them is that I knew the board, the mayor, and everyone involved in the process wanted us to upgrade our website," Reczkowski said.

 

Connell, however, raised concern that departments may be budgeting for too many people and then shifting the money to pay for something else. 

 

"It sounds like a slush fund," Connell said.

 

Director of Finance Matthew  Kerwood said the departments budget as if all positions are being filled. If there is a vacancy, then the department doesn't have to expend the funds and with approval, it can be used elsewhere in the budget. Kerwood rejects the idea that the city is funding two salaries when only one position is needed just to have flexibility in the accounting.

 

Council Vice President John Krol defended Reczkowski, saying that is exactly what he'd want the department head to do. He said he wants department heads who will do whatever is needed to accomplish more with the money they have allocated.

 

"I think this is what the taxpayers expect department heads to be able to do," Krol said.

 

The library is also looking to reduce its offerings of newspapers and periodicals. Reczkowski said that budget cut was the library "trying to be all in it together." He doesn't know which subscriptions he'll be dropping but the library is asking readers to let them know what is important to them.

The Department of Community Development's $661,309 budgets $5,629 less than the current year. But the focus for Council At Large Melissa Mazzeo and Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell was on the salaries of two of the top leadership positions - Deanna Ruffer and Jim McGrath. The two are aligned to see and 8.2 and 6 percent salary increase respectively. 

 

Ruffer, Director of Personnel Michael Taylor, and Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood broke the salary increases down to a series of steps accounting for it. The positions are management and therefore are entitled to the City Council's recent approval of a total of 3 percent - over two years - in cost of living increases. Then the staff members are hitting the threshold for another step increase. 

 

For Ruffer, the raise seems at a higher percentage because she started the job making more than the previous director. Ruffer had run the department for a number of years and then returned to the city's employment this past year. When she returned, she started basically where she left off.

 

"If I hadn't left and still had been here, I would have been at the same [salary]," she said.

 

Mazzeo posed a number of questions about the city's pay scale and job classifications. She hoped to have a better understanding of the system so she could more closely follow the pay raises.

 

But ultimately, the budget was approved easily. 

 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — School administrators could have asked for all of the $2.1 million increase in state aid for education.

But they focused their attention mostly on two new initiatives: to bring back the kindergarten paraprofessionals who were cut from the budget last year and the revamp its therapeutic program.

Those two total $985,000. The rest is eyed to go back to the city's side for the number of services that the schools benefit from those other agencies. The state's Chapter 70 aid for school is increasing by more than $2 million for Pittsfield, which is sent to the city as a revenue.

 

However, even with that increase, the city was over its levy ceiling in earlier drafts of the budget. The mayor's office then agreed to refinance the final payment for the bus fleet, at a cost of $558,469, over the next five years to make the numbers work. 

 

Thus, the School Committee put forth a proposed $61,112,869 total spending plan, $60,491,869 of which will be the city's appropriation. In total, the school's budget is up by $426,531.

 

On Tuesday, the City Council spent just short of 4 1/2 hours culling through the proposal. But ultimately, the council preliminarily approved the request unchanged.

 

Superintendent Jason McCandless spent the first hour of Tuesday's meeting outlining the successes, challenges, and recent changes throughout the district. The district has undergone massive replacement of curriculums, expanded professional development, implemented new interventions, and completely revamped its disciplinary procedures.

 

"We are always working to get better in the Pittsfield Public Schools," McCandless said.

 

The budget proposal does call for expanding on two ongoing projects the district has taken. The budget asks for $50,000 to completely revamp the district's code of conduct and student handbook. And, asks for money to continue looking at the possible consolidation of schools.

 

Last year, a study had been done on the district's size. But, McCandless said he thinks it is too early to close a school yet. He said the most logical way to do that would be to close Allendale and Stearns and have those students attend Morningside. He said Morningside is at well below the number of students it had in the 1990s. But, he has a hard time seeing more than 200 more students at Morningside in this educational environment, where there are significantly more requirements for various students.

 

Nonetheless, McCandless has ratings on the condition of each building, populations, and capacity. Some of those building were renovated with state aid and may need to stay in operation as a school. 

 

"I would suggest the high schools are closer to real consolidation," McCandless said, and Taconic High School was designed to accommodate an expansion if needed.

 

With the way the population is trending, McCandless is asking the School Building Needs Commission to "take a lead" on developing a plan in the future. That could include building new.

 

For example, Crosby is listed as being in the worst condition. But that land has a deed restriction requiring it to be a school and sits on a nice piece of property. He said looking to build larger that and closing other schools is something worth considering. He'd also like to get rid of the open classroom concept at Conte.

 

The population may have been dropping but one of the successes of the district is the number of advanced placement courses being taken, and being passed. McCandless detailed numbers comparing, from just a handful of years ago, the students every demographic not only taking more, but a higher percentage of them passing. The district boasts of having the county's most robust set of AP courses available and emphasis made in recent years to get students to take those courses has proven fruitful. The budget does not call for any layoffs to support those efforts.

 

Yet, despite the course offerings, McCandless said the district is still seeing $2.2 million leave the district and go to charter schools and $2.9 million going to other districts for school choice.

 

"It doesn't make anybody in this room happy. It sickens me every time I get one of those letters," McCandless said. "We know that $5 million price tag is a big bite of the city's finances."

 

McCandless said many times parents send their children out of district without even giving Pittsfield a chance. The district has bolstered its marketing in response. McCandless said the focus is to let the students tell the story of the district and he has been talking with families early to tell them the perks of the city's system.

 

Council President Peter Marchetti said the district since 2014 has seen more money go toward families opting out. But, the number of children choicing out each year has been declining. He hopes that is an early sign that the tide is turning on those choice numbers.

 

Meanwhile, Council Vice President John Krol is calling on the state to make changes to the system — particularly when it comes to the funding of charter schools.

 

"We are subsidizing Lenox schools, subsidizing Richmond, subsidizing BART Charter," he said. 

 

Another costly driver is when students with learning disabilities, severe emotional trauma, and behavioral issues are required to be sent to private schools elsewhere to get the education they need. The city is still required to foot that bill and has seen a $400,000 increase in recent years.

 

The budget calls for $385,000 to hire five new teachers and a program director to head the newly revamped therapeutic program. The district's current program is housed at both Crosby and Morningside. The plan is to bring it all to Crosby, hire a program director, cluster the classrooms, staff each class with two teachers, and have a full-time school adjustment counselor, and full-time behavior technician dedicated to it. 

 

Hiring a program director will open more time for the principals at Crosby and Morningside to focus on managing the building. McCandless said the two principals spent close to half their time with the therapeutic programs and it should be one full-time position. 

 

McCandless said it is partly an effort to not only teach children with severe disabilities better but to also curb those out-of-district placements. He said it is a lot easier to intervene with children at the earlier age and get them back into the traditional programs when they are younger than when they are older.

 

"If we can get in earlier, and get it right, we not only consolidate and make better use of our resources," McCandless said. 

 

Last year, the district eliminated 68 positions, 42 of which were paraprofessionals. McCandless said he regrets that decision and is asking for the ability to hire the 11 for kindergarten classrooms back.

 

The City Council then picked through the budget lines, asking questions about various lines here and there. Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo and Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli felt the line for legal services and settlements was overfunded and a motion to reduce the budget by $5,000 but that was ultimately rejected by the 7-4 margin which has become typical during these budget hearings. 

 

But that had been the only effort made by the council to make adjustments. The rest of the meeting was filled with questions regarding the funding, but McCandless and Assistant Superintendent Kristen Behnke apparently provided sufficient enough answers.

 

Mazzeo, however, didn't want to part with the budget just yet. She said she may be asking to reconsider the move with the buses. The city has the purchase of a new bus fleet in its capital budget for 2023 and Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood said he'd be looking to finance the final payment on the current buses until then. That opened some room under the levy ceiling and is hoped to be fully paid off by the next purchase. 

 

The city is still paying for the fleet even before that. Kerwood said that fleet is scheduled to be paid off in 2020.

Workers Compensation: $675,000

 

The proposed worker's compensation line of $675,000 is $75,000 less than last year. The council passed it as presented but only after Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell kicked the tires on cutting another $20,000 from the funds allocated to injured on duty but he ultimately pulled that back.

 

Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood said that line is particularly vulnerable to fluctuations. The number came in lower than budgeted for this year but Kerwood said the city "got lucky."

 

"This year we got lucky. We were able to settle some cases and we changed vendors," Kerwood said, adding that the new administrator of the city's worker's compensation has been more aggressive in getting people off compensation. "I would be concerned to have one year be a trend."

 

The budget was approved as presented.

 

The council approved the $1,168,595 budget for finance and administration without discussion.

 

The proposed budget is $2,270 less than the current year. The biggest change is a $25,000 reduction in re-evaluation because the city had just completed one and does not need to do another yet.

The proposed information technology budget of $587,709 was approved to be reduced by $11,176.

 

The council passed the budget with only questioning a typo in the previous year's numbers. The proposed budget book listed the current year's number for supplies at $7,000 but in reality, it was $3,000.

 

The unclassified budget of $52,367,939 was the area the council opted to cut $15,000 from — dropping the number to $52,352,939. 

 

The council agreed to cut $5,000 from bank settlements, following Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood saying he had been working with the city's financial institutions to reduce those costs. And the council opted to cut $10,000 from the contingency, citing a number of other areas in the budget which could have the flexibility to be moved around to cover unanticipated costs. 

 

The debate also featured a motion from Council Vice President John Krol to cut $500,000 from the health insurance line to "send a message" that the city wants a seat at the table. The cost for employee health care is determined by Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield. The city then is just given what the new premiums will be. And it isn't a small part of the budget — the line for health insurance is slightly over $25 million.

 

That is still going up by a $525,000 despite a recent agreement between the city and the Public Employee Committee which cut the proposed increase by $1.5 million.

 

"The problem with that is, is that is not reducing the cost of healthcare to the city. Not only are we tightening our belts at the department level and asking employees to give more. Meanwhile, the cost of health-care continues to go up and up and up," Krol said. "It is absolutely busting our budget."

 

Krol was ultimately the lone vote in favor of cutting it by $500,000. Changing the way insurance rates are set is out of the City Council's control. Should that reduction have gone through, the city would have had to find the extra funds elsewhere in the budget to pay the bill.

 

Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo meanwhile put up a fight against the purchase of a $13,000 sedan for the building inspector's office. The plan is to trade in a 2007 Chevy Colorado with about 31,000 miles on it and purchase the new sedan.

 

Mazzeo, however, said the Colorado should still have more life to it since it has such low mileage. The battle over the purchase of vehicles is one Mazzeo and Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell fight nearly every year, saying the city has too many vehicles and that they are not being maintained properly.

 

Ward 5 Councilor Donna Todd River said the council has asked for better fleet management for the last three years and it doesn't seem like the city has complied. While she recognized the need for the new vehicle, she said she'd be willing to vote against it to send a message. Connell is looking for a fleet management plan that tracks where employees are making sure the vehicles are being properly maintained instead of having individual department heads set policies on vehicle usage. Connell added that he sees the vehicles being taken out of the city often on personal use.

 

Fleet manager Jeffrey Howes said the city has implemented better policies to manage vehicles and in just a few years dropped its total number from 240 to 220. But there are vehicles like the Colorado that are rotting out. He said the new sedan would be cared for much better.

 

Howes said he's implemented vehicle checklists, opened an account at a car wash to make sure the salt is being washed off and tracks the usage to make sure it is getting its routine maintenance.

 

"We really work hard at this. We have a good plan," he said.

 

He said the plan really evolved in the last couple years because of the council's urging.

 

Ultimately, six out of the 11 councilors agreed to still purchase the sedan, defeating Mazzeo's motion.

 

Connell then turned his attention to long-term debt and principal. Those two combined are going up by more than $1.2 million. Connell pointed those figures out as a shot over the bow to the council's debate of the capital budget. He said the city needs to start scaling back what it borrows.

 

"We can't just every year keep borrowing $8-10 million and add $1 million to principal and interest," he said. "We've got to start saying no to some of these."