Hillsdale Woman Joins Berkshire Money Management as Office Manager

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Barbara Schmick has joined Berkshire Money Management.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Barbara Schmick of Hillsdale, N.Y., has joined Berkshire Money Management as manager of cffice services.

Schmick brings diverse experience in administration, planning, and coordination, as well as sales, marketing, and corporate communications to BMM. In her new position, she will work closely with the firm's advertising and marketing agency, handle event planning, and serve as a liaison to the local business and residential communities.

Berkshire Money Management launched in Pittsfield in 2001, and manages more than $180 million for clients throughout the Western Mass., northern Connecticut and New York Capital regions.

Schmick has a long career in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. As an event planner responsible for the design and implementation of hundreds of medical-education programs, she has arranged and managed seminars for physicians from Bangkok to Boise, Idaho, before relocating to the Berkshires region.

"It was an exotic, stress-filled career but I had the time of my life," she recalls, noting that she also was a partner in her own firm, where she managed all aspects of account services, including program design, faculty and audience recruitment, site selection and the development of invitational materials.

Schmick is also a professional photographer and has shown her work at several important exhibitions. And as a photojournalist, her photography has graced the pages of several local newspapers.

In 2003, she moved to the Berkshires full time and worked at a consulting group in Troy, N.Y., first as a client coordinator and then as an executive partner in the office of the president.

For more information, call 888-232-6072 or visit www.berkshiremm.com.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield Council Passes $232.7M Budget

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council unanimously approved a $232.7 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year. 

It is a modest, almost 2.9 percent increase from FY26. 

"I do want to give the community kind of a heads up as we move forward on budgets. What we see coming out of the federal government that's trickling down to the states, it's going to be harder and harder for us as a community to meet our needs under the Proposition 2 1/2," Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said. 

"We're going to have challenges, as we've seen communities across the state trying to override the Proposition 2 1/2, because we have dwindling amounts of money coming from the state and federal government." 

She pointed out that, at the same time, utility bills are going up for both residents and the city, as are the costs of pavement and other items. 

The amended budget of $232,777,720, down from the $232,782,090 originally proposed, includes cuts to the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the restoration of funds for councilors to attend the annual Massachusetts Municipal Association conference. 

The Pittsfield Public Schools' $86,855,061 budget includes $68,886,061 in state Chapter 70 funding and $18 million from the city. With $345,000 in school choice and Richmond tuition revenues, it totals $87,200,061 and is an approximately $300,000 increase from the Pittsfield Public Schools' FY26 budget of $86.9 million. 

The district's budget will fund 13 schools, as Morningside Community School will retire in the fall, and includes the middle school restructuring. 

Councilors also approved the use of $2 million in certified free cash to reduce the tax rate, and appropriated $450,551 for parking-related expenditures. 

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