The Pittsfield, Massachusetts city council has preliminarily approved a budget for the 2022 fiscal year.
An amended $179.2 million budget proposal was approved at a hearing on Wednesday, setting the stage for a vote on the final budget Tuesday night. The final spending plan for fiscal year 2022 – which begins July 1st – includes a doubling of free cash use to $1.5 million in an effort to reduce the tax burden. Around $200,000 was cut from the proposed police budget last week due to an error on the part of the city that incorrectly overstated the number of patrol officers by three, at 69.
The meeting wasn’t without its share of subplots, including Ward 1 Councilor Helen Moon calling out Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell for repeatedly using the phrase “too many chiefs and not enough Indians.”
“I just want to ask councilors to be really mindful of the phrases that you're using," said Moon. "There are better ways to say things, to convey what you're trying to say without using a racially charged statement. So I am asking people to be culturally aware and understand that some of the things that we're saying here is not appropriate, and I'm asking them to reconsider those statements.”
Connell, who has been accused of making racist statements and social media posts by fellow councilors in the past, responded.
“If I offended anyone, regarding being racist to my classification of chief and Indians, then I apologize to that," he said. "My ancestry states back to like 250 years, right to the Deerfield Massacre, where my ancestors were captured and taken to Canada. So to- when I said the ‘chief and Indian’ statement, I apologize for that. I probably should have classified it as we do not need more administrators. We need more workers in the field. And Councilor Moon, I'm sorry if you were offended by that. But that's where I was coming from, and I have that blood in my lines. So I just wanted to let you know that.”
Moon, Connell and Ward 2’s Kevin Morandi – none of whom are seeking re-election – were the three votes against the proposed budget.
“As far as I'm concerned, we're going down a real slippery road. And I'm going to have to put up with it as a taxpayer after this year," said Morandi. “My number one priority is affordability. And to make sure that people can afford staying in our home, and living in everyday life. And we have to budget our homes, every one of us. And it seems like the city doesn't budget themselves. And when you run a business, you do that. And it seems like the city's not a business.”
“I think we've added positions here in a time just coming out of a pandemic, which we should not be so spendthrifty going forward," said Connell. “We need to make a stand here as a council, we need to make a stand and tell the mayor, she's to go back and rework the budget and to make other reductions, OK, because we as counselors do not always know the inner workings of every single department, every single line item, as the mayor and her staff do.”
Moon also voted against the city’s five-year capital improvement plan, which includes $500,000 for planning a new police station.
“I recognize that this is a living document and can be altered," she said. "And I don't know at what point this is going to come forward and whether I will be on the council or not when it does come forward. But I do think that it's incredibly important to have this conversation with our community in regards to a potential $55 million police station that is in the pipeline.”
Moon, who has led largely unsuccessful attempts on the council to cut police spending, echoed community concerns with the plans.
“I don't know when this is coming forward," she said. "I am hopeful that it will come with robust debates and, and consideration of all the people who called in tonight and the 250 or so people who signed a petition asking us – actually I looked at that list is a lot of students asking us to re-envision and reimagine what our future is, can be without spending this much money on a new police station but maybe something else.”
As part of a practice adopted for the pandemic, the Pittsfield City Council meets remotely for the final time Tuesday at 6 p.m.
