The Pittsfield City Council this week approved a $145 million budget for fiscal 2016, but for the second year in a row argued over capital expenditures with councilors warning of poor fiscal management and unnecessary spending.Having reviewed the budget over a series of hearings earlier this month, the council approved the spending plan 8 to 3 without debate on Tuesday. Voting in opposition, Councilor Anthony Simonelli says areas in the school and overtime budgets could have been trimmed.
“You know, times are tough and things just keep going up and up and up,” said Simonelli.
The only person to speak during the public hearing was Craig Gaetani, who has announced a bid for mayor. He said he would cut the budget seven percent across the board.
In a repeat of last year, the councilors scrutinized certain items in an $11.1 million capital projects budget. Because of a request from the city council for more street improvements, the plan increased about $1 million over what Mayor Dan Bianchi proposed. Among other councilors, Churchill Cotton opposed $30,000 for a fiber optic Internet connection to the planned Berkshire Innovation Center meant to help nearby businesses. Bianchi proposed spending $60,000. Cotton acknowledged the mayor’s compromise.
“He [Bianchi] cut it in half, but I just don’t believe it belongs there,” Cotton said. “All the projects I’m fully in support of. I just can’t support the total budget because of that one item. My conscience just won’t let me do that. So I won’t be supporting the capital budget.”
Repairs to a mobile performance stage and upgrades to Pittsfield High School’s auditorium totaling $180,000 also drew skepticism. Mayor Bianchi told the councilors politics is the art of compromise.
“When we can’t find common ground over little items, something else is happening,” Bianchi said. “I’m sure that we don’t want to wade into that if we don’t have to. I think this is a responsible capital budget.”
After an attempt to remove the $30,000 failed, the council rejected the capital projects budget, which requires two-thirds support, with a 7 to 4 vote. Not wanting a repeat of last year, when Mayor Bianchi did not resubmit a capital budget after the council rejected it because it didn’t include funding a new fire engine, Councilor Simonelli said he would reconsider his opposition. The budget passed on the second try, 8 to 3. Roughly $3.5 million of the $11 million plan is expected to be reimbursed by the federal government for upgrades to the city’s airport runway.
Outgoing six-term Councilor Jonathan Lothrop was critical of requests to transfer money from free cash to cover fire and police budgets for the 2015 budget in the final month of the fiscal year. He blamed Bianchi’s administration for using money from the contingency account for decisions like moving some departments from city hall to North Street.
“That’s the cost of depleting your contingency account before the end of the year,” Lothrop said. “Now we’re basically hitting the piggy bank, which is supposed to be our emergency rainy day fund, to pay for operations for the end of the year. It’s not good fiscal management. I was tempted frankly to vote against the budget because of the fact that I believe these accounts are grossly underfunded going ahead next year.”
The council approved the transfer. Councilor Barry Clairmont was also critical of using $2.25 million from free cash to balance the municipal budget.
Meanwhile, the North Adams City Council unanimously approved a $38.6 million budget, an increase of two percent from last year. Mayor Richard Alcombright says the spending plan for fiscal 2016 matches anticipated revenues without dipping into city reserves. The school department’s budget also increased about 2 percent despite a dozen layoffs.
