Pittsfield Council Approves Appropriations in 11th Hour of FY23
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council on Friday approved three appropriations in the 11th hour of fiscal 2023 after they were derailed earlier in the week.
These were orders to transfer and appropriate $620,000 from free cash to the Department of Public Services for snow and ice removal, to transfer $75,000 from retained sewer earnings to the Department of Public Utilities Wastewater Division for sludge handling, and to transfer and appropriate $850,000 from free cash to the Police Department for scheduled overtime.
Ward 2 Councilor Charles Kronick voted in favor of the appropriations after charter objecting to them during Tuesday's council meeting. The free cash account cannot be used in the new fiscal year until certified by the state. That meant the burden of paying these accounts would have fallen on the taxpayer, so a special meeting was called on the last day of the fiscal year.
Councilor at Large Peter White pointed out that, for the second year in a row, there has been a charter objection in June that has "basically screwed up the process of government" and taken away the councilors' choices to make changes to the items.
If not for the "waste of time" charter objection, he said that he would have entertained suggestions on how else to approach the deficits.
"Really the point we're at tonight, I don't want to see any of these items changed. I don't want to see any of these items for risk of being charter objected to again when the burden would go on the taxpayer because if we make any amendments to these, that's what could happen so we have to understand the parliamentary procedure of this, that if we change any of these items, they can be re-charter objected," he said.
"Tuesday night was the time to bring up concerns, to have discussion when we still had time. To act, instead of pushing it to the very last hour so we don't have time to suggest anything to the mayor, nor give the mayor time to think about something for a day or two because, through the charter objection, we've pushed ourselves against the wall," he said.
"The charter objection is irresponsible and if it's not taken out, it should be not allowed in the month of June so I will not entertain any changes to any of this but I do look forward to debate and questions that counselors may have had from Tuesday night."
Kronick initiated the charter objections when asked to waive Finance Committee review of the items because he felt that it was not procedurally sound. He also accused the administration of creating "fake budgets" and using free cash to make up for irresponsible spending.
"My charter objection got the job done the way it's supposed to be done," he said, adding that the council can now debate thoroughly.
He unsuccessfully motioned to fund the $620,000 and $850,000 from the Public Works Stabilization account.
President Peter Marchetti said this is a normal operating procedure that Kronick is trying to make into something else. He looked back to previous years and found that similar appropriations were made in 2009, 2012, 2015, and several times in the last eight years under the Tyer administration.
Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren said the council can either appropriate the money or let it go on the tax bill.
"The fact of the matter is we have people trying to cut $25,000 from line items and save money on the tax rate. I would think somebody wants to save $680,000 for going on the tax rate so how do we pay for it? Free cash? Well, we could add it to the tax recap. So that doesn't make sense," he said.
"Those of us who have asked the mayor to use free cash to save money on the tax rate, that's what's happening here."
Finance Director Matthew Kerwood explained that these are year-end housekeeping items that the city and municipalities across the state traditionally do.
"It's a consistent theme and to Councilor Warren's point, yeah, we can put it on next year's tax recap. We're trying to avoid that," he said.
"And this is why we come at the end of the year with transfer requests such as this to make sure that at the end, as of midnight tonight, when we close the books our accounts are balanced."
Ward 3 Councilor Kevin Sherman understands the frustration with the lateness but said the $620,000 for snow and ice removal should have been expected given the "disastrous" Christmas Eve snowstorm.
Craig Gaetani, who has taken out papers for the mayoral race, spoke in support of Kronick's motions during open mic.
"A yes vote by you would be an act of nonfiduciary responsibility to the hard-working, taxpaying individuals of this city," he said.
Kronick also spoke during open microphone.
"Taxpayers see this free cash as their money. This administration considers it to be their personal slush fund," he said.
"They dump it into major departmental accounts without telling the taxpayers and even their representatives what they're actually doing and why. They need to say exactly what this money is covering."
During the meeting, the council also approved the reappointment of Joseph Benjamin, Gary Bianchi, Marja Catalano, Maureen Logan-Daniels, Bryan House, Darren Lee, Len Light, Cliff Nilan, and Earl Persip to the Wahconah Park Restoration Committee with Kronick voting in opposition.
This, too, had been charter objected at the Tuesday council meeting.
Tags: charter objection, fiscal 2024, free cash,
