NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The $55 million fiscal 2027 budget approved by the City Council on Tuesday had been cut by $298,000, as of Monday.

 

The proposed fiscal 2027 spending plan is $54,964,135.99, up 5 percent over this year. The Finance Committee gave a final recommendation of the draft on Monday.

 

Of the amount approved, nearly $24 million comes from state aid (minus $4.5 million in charges), $9.5 million from local receipts, and $25 million through taxation. 

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the Finance Committee, as it was giving its final look at the plan, that she'd made cuts on previously recommended budget lines. The budget has been under review for several weeks. 

 

"We were trending at $1.8 million that we were closing the gap on, and then it became evident that we couldn't push any more really on local receipts," she said. "The team really took a deep dive into what can we really survive without. ... I feel like we, as an administration, tightened up a lot, but we are trying to keep the budget in balance."

 

The reductions, use of $663,000 in reserves and accounts sitting outside the general fund, will be used to close the gap, along with an anticipated $1.1 million more in local receipts.

 

"We have the reserve, we should use it. It's hard to both on the city side and on the school side, you know, to say to a taxpayer, your taxes are going to go up, we have spread out this $2 million and we're sitting on a savings account for $2 million right?" the mayor said.