Pittsfield Council Begins Review of Fiscal 2023 Budget

Day 2 budget review here.

Day 3 budget review here.

Day 4 budget review here.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday spent four hours beginning its review of the city's $172 million budget, preliminarily passing nine departments' spending plans as proposed.

At-Large Councilor Karen Kalinowsky, Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren, and Ward 2 Councilor Charles Kronick unsuccessfully motioned to make amendments to different departments.

Kronick even delved into his personal views of gender identity when discussing the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, later adding that city government is not responsible for others' feelings.

In an effort to address deficiencies in responding to mental health crises, the councilors supported a recommendation for the Pittsfield Police to earmark up to $250,000 in grant money to have additional clinicians as co-responders.

The proposed municipal operating budget is $99,900,752 and the proposed public school budget is $72,398,262, totaling a municipal operating budget of $172,299,014.

Within that are a $2,200,000 increase in health insurance, a $780,492 increase in the retirement contribution, and a $563,888 increase in solid waste collection and disposal.

The city expects to raise $101,341,57 in property tax and its remaining revenue will be funded by state aid and local receipts. Unrestricted general government aid is at $9,745,348 for fiscal 2023, increased by more than $256,000.

To offset the tax rate, Mayor Linda Tyer is proposing a $750,000 appropriation from free cash and $16,290,130 from the water and sewer enterprise funds has been applied to the revenue stream.

With the water and sewer enterprise line, the total budget is $188,589,144, which Tyer requested to raise and appropriate at the last City Council meeting. It was referred to the Committee of The Whole for Tuesday's deliberation.

The city's excess levy capacity is $2,536,049.

Day 1: Mayor's office, City Council, City Clerk, Human Resources, DEI, Airport, City Solicitor, Health Department, Police Department
 

Mayor's Office

The mayor's office budget of $242,784 was approved with some debate about the 7.5 percent consumer price index (CPI) wage increase, which is the highest rate in more than 40 years.  

The departmental budget is $16,876 more or a 7.47 percent increase from the previous year.

Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio was the lone vote in opposition.

Department heads, managers, and non-union employees will receive the CPI wage increase that is in the city's code, Tyer said.

"It's based upon the prior January's CPI for urban districts, that provision is in our city code and our past practice has been when we set salaries for those groups we would use that CPI percentage, and then you would add in merit based on performance," she explained.

"But this year, as I indicated, we were stunned when we got the information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that the CPI had been set at 7 1/2 percent, so this is the highest CPI in 42 years."

About $400,000 in CPI raises will be given to about 50 employees.

Kronick said the number was arbitrary and unsuccessfully motioned to decrease the wage increase to three percent.

Other councilors did not support his reasoning.

"We're in a world where it's time to start paying your employees, you have businesses all over looking for people and people are an asset and the world started to realize that," Councilor at Large Earl Persip III said.

"And I think we need to keep our assets."

City Council

The budget proposal of $109,262 was accepted as presented.  It is a $2,200, or a 2.05 percent increase over the previous year.

Kalinowsky unsuccessfully motioned to reduce education and training, the only inflated line item, by $2,200 to match the previous year's allocation.

This is used to subsidize overnight accommodations for the Massachusetts Municipal Association's annual meeting. Kalinowsky found it unnecessary to use even the small amount of funds for that purpose.

Councilors advocated for the conference and advised Kalinowsky that she can opt out of taking the funds for her hotel room so that the monies remain within the budget.

Warren also unsuccessfully motioned to request $10,000 for outside legal counsel as an alternative to the city solicitor.

City Clerk

The budget of $369,650 was unanimously passed as presented with little conversation. It is a $6,568 or a 1.81 percent increase from the previous year.

Human Resources

The $234,048 budget was passed as presented. It is $15,066 or a 6.88 percent increase from the previous year.

Kronick unsuccessfully motioned to reduce the department's training, budgeted for $15,000, by $5,000 because he was not satisfied with Human Resources Director Michael Taylor's explanation that the funds are for both mandated training and for reimbursing staff who seek professional development.

With those funds, about 500 employees receive training.

Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The new department's $169,416 budget was passed as recommended. It is a $69,656, or 69.82 percent higher than the previous year due to the fact that the FY22 budgeted amount was for a partial year. 

The DEI office was created last year and appeared on the city budget in FY22 for the first time.

Pittsfield Municipal Airport

The budget of $297,228 was approved as presented with little discussion. It is a $12,500 or 4.39 percent increase from the previous year.

City Solicitor

The budget of $236,432 was approved with no discussion. It is an $8,763 or 3.85 percent increase from the previous year.

Health Department

The $586,572 budget was passed as presented. It is a $76,459 or 14.99 percent increase from the previous year, largely due to the addition of a licensed social worker with a salary of $75,000.

"If the City Council approves the Health Department's budget including the licensed social worker, we would undertake a process to create a job, create a job description, go through a hiring process, so that would be the next step," Tyer said.

"And really the goal is to have someone with specialized training and expertise in the field of mental health care that can provide guidance to the Department of Public Health but also to us as we undertake a number of decisions around the co-responder program around models that some community members have recommended to us, it is important to have someone with that level of expertise providing guidance to us as we make these next steps decisions."

The addition was well-received by most of the councilors but Kronick felt that the salary was set too high for a position and unsuccessfully motioned to reduce it by $30,000.

He also argued that the city is defining a solution without identifying the problem.

"The problem has been defined. We have a mental health epidemic in our city, we have an opioid crisis in our city," Sherman said.

There was also some speculation that the position may be a better fit for the Police Department but Tyer said there would be a limitation because the social worker would not be able to access patient records as a co-responder.

Police Department

The budget of $11,927,437 was approved as presented with a recommendation that the department earmarks up to $250,000 in grant money to have additional clinicians as co-responders.

The budget is a $411,206 or 3.57 percent increase from the previous year.

The recommendation was agreeable with the council, Tyer, and Police Chief Michael Wynn as they all believe that the city needs better support for those in a mental health crisis.

Persip largely advocated for the addition of more co-responders to address mental health calls.

The city's current co-responder program is contracted services with the Brien Center and is funded through the Police Department. It was explained during the hearing that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) restrictions prevent city employees from having access to medical records and that is a hurdle for the administration.

"My goal here tonight in this meeting is to make sure that we are improving our co-responder program and I think everybody in the room is on that same page," Persip said.

"I don't think I don't think the Police Department is against that, I don't think the community, we all understand we have a mental health issue out there and we need to get the police the support to deal with that, the community needs the support to deal with that."

Tyer said the city needs a partnership with the council to make this happen.

"I hear you loud and clear and we'll do whatever is the will of the City Council on this line item but we need your recommendation, right, like let's do this as a partnership," she said.

"Not just us putting forward $250,000, not really having a plan."
 

The complete Pittsfield fiscal 2023 budget as presented can be found in pdf form here.

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