Pittsfield Board to Mull School Committee Pay Increase

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
01:26PM / Monday, March 31, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Should the School Committee be paid more? This conversation will pick up soon.

On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to send a request from Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren and Ward 4 Councilor James Conant to the Personnel Review Board.

In February, the Ordinance & Rules subcommittee recommended not to approve the request and referred it to the Charter Review Committee, which determined it should be addressed through an ordinance.

"The School Committee had never been paid until 2015. This is now 10 years later. We're having a charter review as a result of a petition of mine. Their pay needs to be adjusted before July of this year, or it can't be done for another two years. It's the right thing to do," Warren said after motioning to refer to the review board.

"Even if we double it, the School Committee pay, for six of them, it will only be $25,000."

He said the city would get what it pays for and cited the committee's hard work over the past year, which involved a difficult budget and allegations against Pittsfield Public Schools staff.

"There's a lot that's on their plate," he said. "Frankly, they do probably as much, sometimes maybe even more than we do, and they don't even get half of what we do."

School Committee members are paid $4,000 annually, city councilors $8,000, and the council president makes $10,000. The council's last raise occurred in 1994.

Warren said the last election barely saw six School Committee candidates, and he would be surprised to see six people run this year. He explained that a pay change has to be done by ordinance and pointed out that when the Personnel Review Board handled the mayor's increase, it researched other Massachusetts communities to come up with a fair pay.

"That's what I think should be done," he said. "I think we need to look and make sure our School Committee is getting paid what they deserve to be paid if we expect to have competition for that seat, if we expect people to put in the effort for those seats."

While the effort was appreciated, in February some School Committee members and councilors felt it wasn't the right time to increase the budget, though many agreed with something like a cost-of-living increase.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said it is very hard to get people to run for city offices, and extra compensation makes the position more accessible.

"A lot of people know that I'm a big proponent of getting more people to run against me, run for any of our seats. Democracy is better when more people are involved, and it's really hard for people to do this without some more incentive, especially people from a broad background of experiences," she said.

"If you're working at a restaurant or something that doesn't pay you a lot of money, that extra amount of money means that you can take that time to serve the city instead of having to do your job and I think that's really important and that shows that we can support people to run and I, too, am concerned about the school committee after what's happened over the last year."

Ward 3 Councilor Matthew Wrinn said the pitch "definitely should be heard," but feels that money should be no motivation to run for office and serve the community.

Councilor At Large Earl Persip pointed to the cost of running for office, adding, "I think most of us spend more money going to events than actually what we take in from our salaries doing this."

"I think it's important to intrigue people to want to run. I mean, I can't say it enough. This is the perfect time to do it because the next school community picks our next superintendent," he said.

"There's going to be a lot of work involved in that. There will be a lot of meetings involved in that, a lot of time spent, and I think it's important. I think we have to get it right. We have to make sure people want to do that job and want to spend those hours."

He said that a small compensation out of a more than $200 million budget is a "drop in the hat" and will get people to run.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said that past races with barely enough people show that something is broken in the system.

"I don't think anyone is running for local office, at least for the council or School Committee, to line their pockets," she said. "It's not a motivation, but it's a sense of security."

Tags: wages,

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

Save & Earn with Greylock

3.30% APY 6-month certificate. Click to learn more! Insured by NCUA.

www.greylock.org

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Elder Services Celebrates More Thann 50 Years While Navigating Federal Challenges

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
02:27PM / Sunday, November 01, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Elder Services of Berkshire County celebrated 52 years at its annual meeting Friday.

Guests gathered at the Country Club of Pittsfield to honor service members and hear about healthy aging in the county from keynote speaker Beth Dugan, a gerontology professor at the Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences at University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Executive Director Chris McLaughlin welcomed everyone and recognized community partners and board members. He said the agency is supported by 135 employees and 260 active volunteers who help bring the nonprofit's mission to life.

"As the Aging Services Access Point and Area Agency on Aging for our 32 communities, Elder Services is the trusted resource for older adults and their caregivers, supporting their desire to remain at home safely," he said. "Whether it's a referral to a community resource or to one of our many programs, it's our job to meet people during some of life's most challenging times and to help them find solutions that enable them to remain independent," he said.

McLaughlin said he thought back on last year's meeting where they worried about cuts in federal funding and programs associated with the Trump administration's dismantling of the Administration for Community Living that never materialized. While that did not affect them he raised concern about Medicaid changes expected to take effect in January, including projected reductions in federal funding to Massachusetts and loss of Medicaid eligibility for some consumers because of the implementation of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

"These changes will remove $3.5 billion in federal funding for Massachusetts and Medicaid eligibility for many, including some of our consumers, with disastrous consequences," he said.

Another challenge for the agency was a cap put in place on their enrollment for their home care program.

"Our state Home Care program, our agency's largest program, deploys homemakers, home health aides, and companions to the homes of Berkshire older adults and continues to grow at unprecedented levels," McLaughlin said. "The implementation of a cap on the number of Enhanced Community Options Program consumers we can enroll has basically cut in half the number of individuals we can service in this program. These individuals qualify clinically for nursing home level of care. This cap will remain in effect for the near future."

But they are still looking up for the future.

"We understand more than ever before that in 2027 there will be changes designed to limit state spending for older adults and this will be compounded by even more older adults becoming eligible for our services. We look forward to learning more about how the Rural Health Transformation Program will benefit older adults in Berkshire County. We are of course worried about how MassHealth changes will impact our consumers and whether the Commonwealth will reduce our funding to support those who will lose Medicaid eligibility," McLaughlin said.

"Despite these challenges we remain optimistic about the future and will respond to them as we always do, with purpose and resilience."

The nonprofit also highlighted its successes through the Hospital Liaison Program that works with local hospitals to help older adults return home rather than enter a nursing home. Although its original funding had ended, Berkshire Medical Center secured a grant expected to support the program for another 30 months.

Volunteers also helped more than 4,000 Berkshire residents make Medicare and other health-insurance decisions. One volunteer helped a woman undergoing chemotherapy qualify for assistance with co-pays and find grants to address an outstanding bill and was able to complete her treatments without the added stress.

The lunch also awarded Elder Services employees. Lauren Larison, Laura Sexton, Jillian Tatro, Christine Barcus, Lisa Jamros, Nichole Pervere, Janet Richardson, Fred Minkle Jr., Karen Decker, Larry Belanger, Diane Cote, and Mary Moran were recognized for five years with Elder Services. Linda Gilardi, Judith Desjardins, and Sara Dastoli were recognized for 15 years with the agency and Bill Marsh and Deb Aldrich-Jegtvig were celebrating 30 years of service.

The meeting included a change in the board with new President Kalee Carmel taking over for Barry Kriesberg, while recognizing Teresa Caldwell on her term ending.

View Full Story