Berkshire Benchmarks Releases State of the County Update

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Benchmarks data team recently released a State of the County Update for 2023. 
 
This brief report builds on the Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County Report published in May 2022 and highlights notable changes in regional indicators over the past year. The berkshirebenchmarks.org website has also been updated to reflect the most current available data. 
 
The purpose of the Benchmarks initiative and report is to highlight the region's successes and challenges.
 
The 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County report provided a comprehensive overview of our region's performance across eight sectors: Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Health, Housing, Social Environment, and Transportation.  
 
In the future, the Berkshire Benchmarks team will continue to monitor these and other indicators to aid with the regional understanding of changes in these sectors and whether the work happening throughout the region is having the intended impact. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks is a collaborative initiative managed through Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC). Our sources are publicly available data, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey, various Massachusetts data sets, and periodic surveys of Berkshire County residents. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks aims to work with the community to understand priorities and help inform the region on how we are doing and if we are improving. Berkshire Benchmarks enhances the region's access to quality data and analysis. 

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Dalton Officials Consider Tool to Navigate Aging Infrastructure Costs

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The town's aging infrastructure remains a top concern for many officials, with recent discussions focusing on water, sewer, and stormwater systems as leaders begin evaluating how to tackle the costly work while protecting taxpayers from an overwhelming financial burden.
 
During the Select Board meeting in July, Capital Planning Committee Chair Thomas Irwin, who also serves as a Finance Committee member, advocated for the purchase of a subscription to Waterworth, a financial planning and modeling tool. 
 
"Their vision was to help municipalities make better long-term infrastructure investment and utility rate decisions by replacing disconnected spreadsheets with a single living financial planning model," he told the board. 
 
The Select Board tabled the discussion and decided to vote on the proposed subscription — whether it's the one-year plan or the discounted three-year plan — during a meeting in August. 
 
The town's drinking water system experiences regular water main breaks, particularly during the winter months, Irwin said. 
 
While the stormwater and sanitary sewer systems are not under pressure, they face their own challenges, including increased infiltration during rainstorms that raises sewer treatment costs and compliance concerns where stormwater lines run beneath sanitary sewer lines, Irwin said. 
 
Waterworth has several subscriptions to choose from but the main two discussed were the three-year and one year models. 
 
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