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 Passes Fiscal 2027 Budget, OKs Funds for Concrete Lawsuit

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
 

The turnout in Dalton was higher than normal with 190 registered voters attending the annual town meeting at Wahconah Regional High School. 
DALTON, Mass. — The town has gotten through this year's challenging budget season with a successful annual town meeting with articles that positions itself to address a projected strenuous financial future. 
 
The meeting on Monday night had a higher than average turnout with 190 voters approving 23 of the 25 articles on the warrant during the nearly hourlong meeting. 
 
Voters approved an operational budget of $11,594,333 and several allocations amounting to about $1.15 million for several stabilization funds to address future needs, such as aging infrastructure. 
 
Officials said the budget was reviewed with close scrutiny because of rising costs in items such as health care costs and municipal and infrastructure expenses that have outpacing household income.
 
"What I want to say is we're OK this year, however, the current trajectory is not sustainable over the next three to five years," Town Manager Eric Anderson said during a town meeting information session last week.
 
Throughout the budget season, officials foreshadowed a challenging financial future that the town needs to start addressing and a majority of the articles in the warrant did just that. 
 
The $11,594,333 operating budget covers town departments, contractual and intergovernmental services, and debt principal and interest, and includes a 2 percent cost-of-living increase for all employees along with a 1.75 percent step increase for some.
 
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