PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Peter Marchetti has proposed a $216 million budget for fiscal year 2025, a 5 percent increase from the previous year.

Budget season will kick off on Monday with a special meeting of the City Council containing several financial items, one being an order to raise and appropriate $216,155,210 for the city's operating budget. This begins the council's process of departmental spending deliberations with a budget adoption before the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

This is about a $10 million hike from FY24's $205,584,497 budget.

Early in the term, the council supported a divisive petition requesting a budget that is "close to level-funded" due to concerns about tax increases. This would come with cuts to employment and city services, Marchetti warned, but said the administration was working to create a proposal that is "between level funded and a level service funded."

When the School Committee OK'd a $82.8 million spending plan, he revealed that the administration "couldn't get to a level service funded budget."

The Pittsfield Police Department budget is proposed to rise 4 percent from $14,364,673 in FY24 to $14,998,410, an increase of about $614,000. A 2.5 percent increase is proposed for the Department of Public Services, rising about $287,000 from $11,095,563 in FY24 to $11,382,122.

Marchetti also submitted a Five Year Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2025-2029 that he called a "roadmap for the future."

A public hearing is planned for May 13.