The first-term Democrat approved the compromise plan presented by the Democrat-controlled State House and Senate chambers without any vetoes. State Senator Paul Mark, a fellow Democrat from the Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire District, says he interprets the uncommon occurrence as a reaction to the ongoing impact of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and the cuts in federal funding it is expected to bring to Massachusetts.
“I think it's a reflection of both the uncertainty we're all facing, and the ability and willingness within Massachusetts of everybody to try to work together, to not do the political posturing as much as possible, and to get a budget that is going to give as much stability to our residents, to our communities, to our school districts as possible,” he told WAMC.
Within the budget – which is up around 4% over the previous year’s spending – Mark says there is a nod to Berkshire County’s history with police responses to mental health crises.
“An earmark I was able to get for $250,000 is going to create a mental health alternative response task force, which means people that will actually be able to come out and respond to these situations," said the state senator. "It's going to be a collaboration between Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, the Brien Center, and the sheriff's department.”
Mark says the effort was driven by the fallout from the Hinsdale Police Department’s controversial killing of 27-year-old Biagio Kauvil in January. His cry for help during one such crisis, a tragic echo of Miguel Estrella in Pittsfield four years earlier – another young man of color in the predominantly white county – ended in Kauvil being fatally shot in a much-criticized police response that continues to reverberate through the community.
“When we passed police reform, we know it's very difficult for the small towns specifically to have fully-staffed, fully-trained, and 24 hours, seven-days-a-week service," Mark continued. "That generally is not the case in most of the communities here in Berkshire County. And so, recognizing what happened, recognizing the need for some kind of an alternative response that is available to the small towns, and recognizing that each municipal entity has its own jurisdiction, and therefore, you need some kind of a blanket jurisdiction that maybe can help even if all of the ducks aren't necessarily instinctively ready to row in the same direction.”
Rather than call the police, people in crisis or their loved ones would call the task force and speak with properly-trained professionals and without the threat of lethal force.
“A different group shows up, and they're the people that go in, and they're the people with the patience to walk through and to sit there and let things cool down," said Mark. "Throughout the county, we've seen problems occasionally over the past 15 years, and I think we've seen great strides forward. And so now it's time to make sure that every corner, every zip code, every town in this county is going to be able to get where we all need and want to be.”
Mark says he’s working on the effort with the Berkshire County Chapter of the NAACP.
Berkshire lawmakers representing small communities are also hailing the budget’s call to reconvene the Foundation Budget Review Commission.
“We have a situation in rural Massachusetts that the population for our schools are declining, and there's more burden being placed on town budgets to really make up the difference," said Democratic State Representative Leigh Davis of the 3rd Berkshire District. "So, whether it's transportation, whether it's school meals, whether it's just trying to make up that gap, we're really particularly feeling it. And as the population gets older and we have fewer students in our district, it just makes it really impossible for rural districts to continue without greater state funding.”
Davis serves one of the most rural parts of Massachusetts, and says the FY27 budget offers another tool to address the longstanding regional inequity issues.
“Having the reconvening of this Foundation Budget Review Commission will be very, very important to look at the funding formula and make sure it better reflects the realities facing rural districts," she told WAMC. "So, this is an opportunity to make sure that our rural communities have a stronger voice in how schools are funded.”
As Democratic State Representative John Barrett of the 1st Berkshire District explained, the commonwealth’s new budget is a way of battening down the hatches in a time of war, cuts, and turmoil.
“Many of the earmarks that I provided or got passed in this budget dealt with things like Berkshire Community Action, making sure that they have more funding for fuel assistance, making sure that our food pantries have enough to take care of those that are in need, and I'm very concerned about our senior citizens who will be impacted by the cuts that are being made in Washington," he said.
"So, we have a lot of uncertainties, but I'm confident that with the money that was received in earmarks that I had dealing with the situation with our nursing homes, making sure that they can continue under these very difficult situations with the loss of Medicaid and Medicare cuts. It’s going to be interesting to see how we do in the upcoming days as far as federal cuts go.”
