Pittsfield City Council Gives Preliminary OK to 9 Department Budgets

Day 1 budget review here.

Day 3 budget review here.

Day 4 budget review here.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — On the second day of the fiscal 2023 budget hearings  last week, the City Council preliminary passed nine departmental budgets in an hour with just one suggested amendment.

The councilors recommended that $1,000 be added to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program's $106,000 budget for volunteer recognition night, a motion that was made by Ward 2 Councilor Charles Kronick.

The proposed municipal operating budget is $99,900,752 and the proposed public school budget is $72,398,262, totaling a municipal operating budget of $172,299,014.

With the water and sewer enterprise line, the total budget is $188,589,144, which Tyer requested to raise and appropriate at the City Council meeting earlier this month.

The city's excess levy capacity is $2,536,049.

Mayor Linda Tyer's order to appropriate $750,000 from certified free cash to reduce the tax rate was not supported, as the council recommended that $1 million be used.

The motion was made by Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio and passed 6-4 with  President Peter Marchetti, Councilors at Large Earl Persip III and Peter White, and Ward 6 Councilor Dina Guiel Lampiasi in opposition. Ward 3 Councilor Kevin Sherman was absent.

"I was hoping that we would curtail off of last year and see at least a million dollars put forth this year once again with all the increases that gave gone up through the years," Maffuccio said.

Veteran Services

The budget of $915,458 was passed as presented. It is $92,346, or 9.16 percent less than the previous year.

Persip queried Director John Herrera about the line item for flags and grave markers, which is $2,400 more than the previous year. He observed that there is about $12,000 left in that budget and that Herrera revised it from $8,000 to $18,000 at some point, asking why there was such a big jump.

Herrera explained that he made a $10,000 request for a GIS-type unit to identify veterans' graves in the city's cemeteries.

"We are going to go through there and start mapping and plotting our cemeteries, number one to identify all the veterans' cemeteries, which will make it easier to find leading up to Memorial Day to plan for markers and the flags there," he explained.

"But also to work with the cemeteries so they can update their websites so a person can go to the website for St. Joseph, for example, type in a deceased loved one's name and find him or her in a heartbeat."

RSVP

The budget of $106,142 was passed with a recommendation that the $2,202 line item for volunteer recognition is increased by $1,000.

It is $9,718, or a 10.08 percent increase from the previous year.

Kronick said Director Lisa Torey told him that the department could use more funds for recognition night. She said the additional monies could be used to host more recognition events in the RSVP office and for the department to buy more items to thank volunteers such as T-shirts, water bottles, and pens.

The event is scheduled for October of this year and there are currently 280 active volunteers.
 

Fire Department

The budget of $9,138,800 was passed as presented. It is a $357,366, or 4.07 percent, increase from the previous year.

Emergency Management

The $26,600 budget was approved with no discussion. It is a mere $200 or 0.76 percent increase from the previous year due to the annual cost of the city's emergency notification system Code Red increasing.
 

Worker's Compensation

The budget of $650,000 was passed with little discussion. It has experienced no change from the previous year.
 

Finance and Administration

The budget of $1,345,333 was passed as presented with little discussion. It is a $97,112, or a 7.78 increase from the previous year.

The Finance & Admin budget had an error in the revaluation line that was brought to the council's attention during the third day of review and which has been updated here. 

Information Technology

The budget of $958,501 was passed as presented. It is a $143,955, or 17.67 percent increase from the previous year.

Persip queried Director Michael Steben on the computing licensing support line item that has increased by more than $122,000. Steben attributed the increase to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the department to adapt to remote working and the need for cyber security.

After doing some research, he reported that cyber attacks on average went up 50 percent from 2020 to 2021, and the most attacked markets are education and research followed by government.

Ransomware attacks are also a threat, which is where data is encrypted and the computer is made accessible and cannot be accessed by its owners until a ransom is paid.

The average cost of such attacks has reportedly increased by up to $2 million dollars.

"Attacks against government went up 1,885 percent between 2020 and 2021," Steben said.

"That's breathtaking and like any other organization with an IT presence we need to respond to what I would phrase as being nothing short of cyber terrorism, we are being attacked by hostile foreign governments, make no mistake, and we need to respond to that."

Unclassifed

The $56,686,954 budget was passed as presented with Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren voting in opposition. It is a $2,849,829, or a 5.29 percent increase from the previous year.

Warren raised questions about the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) administrative assistant that was recently added to the department.

He queried the city's authority to give an employee that is not on the compensation plan benefits and if the city could add other positions without the council's approval.

"I can add them but you'd have to fund them, the reason you didn't have to fund for this is because it's paid for by the grant," Tyer explained, adding that any other departmental administrative assistants would be included in the budget presentation.
 

Council on Aging

The budget of $371,055 was passed with little conversation. It is a $29,855, or 8.75 percent increase from the previous year.

The complete Pittsfield fiscal 2023 budget as presented can be found in pdf form here.

Pittsfield ZBA Member Recognized for 40 Years of Service

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
12:23PM / Thursday, April 25, 2024

Albert Ingegni III tells the council about how his father-in-law, former Mayor Remo Del Gallo who died at age 94 in 2020, enjoyed his many years serving the city and told Ingegni to do the same. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It's not every day that a citizen is recognized for decades of service to a local board — except for Tuesday.

Albert Ingegni III was applauded for four decades of service on the Zoning Board of Appeals during City Council. Mayor Peter Marchetti presented him with a certificate of thanks for his commitment to the community.

"It's not every day that you get to stand before the City Council in honor of a Pittsfield citizen who has dedicated 40 years of his life serving on a board or commission," he said.

"As we say that, I know that there are many people that want to serve on boards and commissions and this office will take any resume that there is and evaluate each person but tonight, we're here to honor Albert Ingegni."

The honoree is currently chair of the ZBA, which handles applicants who are appealing a decision or asking for a variance.

Ingegni said he was thinking on the ride over about his late father-in-law, former Mayor Remo Del Gallo, who told him to "enjoy every moment of it because it goes really quickly."

"He was right," he said. "Thank you all."

The council accepted $18,000 from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and a  $310,060 from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All program.