Marchetti Proposes 8% Water/Sewer Increase

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council agenda on Tuesday includes water and sewer rates as well as a proposed change to the schedule and calculation for predictability and fair pricing. 

For fiscal year 2025, Mayor Peter Marchetti has proposed water and sewer rate hikes of 8 percent each. 

This would raise the average water bill for one toilet by about $24 per year, rising from $295.52 in FY24 to $322.44, and the average sewer bill by about $30, rising from $378.80 in FY24 to $409.12. The annual bill would total around $732.

Additional toilets would rise from about $149 in FY24 to about $161 for water and about $190 in FY24 to about $205 for sewer, totaling about $366 annually. Metered water would rise from $2.16 per cubic foot in FY24 to $2.33 for water and from $4.50 to $4.86 for sewer.

In FY24, water rates rose 12 percent and sewer rates 25 percent.

Marchetti submitted a draft ordinance to adjust the rates on an annual basis, explaining it is "is important for aligning our rates with the actual cost of providing these services, taking into account operational expenses, capital needs, contractual obligations and market goods and services variability."

The ordinance proposes a Rate Adjustment Formula based on the Consumer Price Index Factor (CPIF) and the Operational Stability Factor (OSF) in an attempt to fairly adjust rates, "ensuring our infrastructure can meet the city's needs while considering the impact on our residents."

The CPIF is a way to adjust for inflation or deflation and is calculated by comparing the year-over-year change in February of the CPI index for water and sewer, Marchetti explained, and the OSF aims at ensuring enough funding for future capital upgrades, maintenance, and unexpected challenges with a ten percent cap.

Currently, the city ordinance states that sewer and water charges are established from time to time by the commissioner of public services and utilities and adopted by the City Council. Rates are computed based on the total amount budgeted for sewer works operation and administration plus equipment replacement, capital improvements, depreciation, and projections of water use and wastewater discharge by system users and other necessary factors.

Rates are to be reviewed biennially to ensure they adequately recover these costs and conform with the established user charge requirements.

The proposed ordinance stipulates that rates are established by the commissioner and adjusted by the CPI for All Urban Consumers for Water and Sewer for the month of February, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics or its successor agency, plus an OSF.

Pittsfield Schools See 'Very Modest' Chapter 70 Increase

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:01AM / Friday, January 30, 2026

The School Committee is expected to vote on a budget in April. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Public Schools will see a "very modest" increase in Chapter 70 funding for fiscal year 2027, and administrators are working to calculate exactly what that will mean. 

Gov. Maura Healey filed a nearly $63 billion budget on Wednesday that increases the city's school funding by $404,000. The Pittsfield schools dropped into a lower Chapter 70 funding category because it has fewer students considered low income. 

This year's expected Chapter 70 aid is just over $68.8 million. In FY26, the district received $68,450,361.

"While the FY27 budget reflects a modest increase over last year's budget, anticipated rising costs such as any current and potential contractual obligations, insurance increases, fuel increases, etc., will result in a budgetary shortfall," Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Bonnie Howland reported on Wednesday. 

"The foundation budget also reflects that decrease in overall student enrollment, and this shapes the critical next phase of our work." 

In 2024, the discovery of 11 students meeting those income guidelines put the district in the higher funding category and added $2.4 million in Chapter 70 funds to the school budget. 

The district will review prior year spending trends and confirm district priorities before drafting the budget, which is about 80 percent contractual obligations for teachers, aides, administrators, and support staff. Embedded into the process is engagement with staff, the community, and the City Council. 

Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips said that in some cases, the district may be able to reduce a current vacancy, but in other cases, there will be a significant effort to hire. 

"For example, for core subject classrooms, we have to fill those positions, and so we are taking a look at every position, every role, how it's being utilized to make recommendations for how we will balance this budget," she explained.