Pittsfield Tax Rate May Drop But Bills Rise

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:12AM / Friday, November 08, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Peter Marchetti has proposed a decrease in the city's tax rate but because of rising property values, the average homeowner will see an annual increase of more than $350.

There will be a tax classification hearing during Tuesday's City Council meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.

For fiscal year 2025, the first-year mayor has put forward a residential tax rate of $17.94 per $1,000 of valuation and a commercial, industrial and personal property tax rate of $37.96 per $1,000 of valuation.
The rates use a residential factor of 0.827103 at a shift of 1.75 to the commercial side.

The $114,615,097 levy limit for fiscal 2025 includes $2,726,686 in new growth, a 4.72 percent increase from the previous year. Pittsfield's real and personal property valuation is $5,270,539,121.

In one year, the average residential property value has increased by $27,377, the median residential property by $22,850, and the median commercial property by $12,750.

The proposed residential rate is 51 cents lower than FY24 and the proposed commercial rate decreased by $1.65. In FY25, the average single-family home is valued at $295,291 for a tax bill of $5,297.52 annually, compared to the average FY24 home valued at $267,914, which paid $4,943.01.

The 7.17 percent increase would shake up to about $30 additional dollars per month for homeowners. The bill hike is less than FY24, which raised annual taxes by $397.82 for the average homeowner.

The median city home valued at $256,500 would see an increase of about $290.77, paying $4,601.61 annually, and the median commercial property worth $224,250 would see an increase of $135.01 annually.

A single tax rate for FY25 would be $21.69, a 95-cent decrease from the previous year.

According to data provided by the administration, Pittsfield lost two single-family homes between FY24 and FY25. The city's 11,326 single-family homes are valued at about $3.3 billion, a $309 million or 10.2 percent increase.

Pittsfield's total residential value including multi-families and condominiums is $4,283,149,542, a $414,172,205 increase from the previous year.

Data shows that the city lost three commercial properties.

The city's 818 commercial properties worth $449,357,652 saw a 3.3 percent increase in value, the 260 industrial properties worth $154,460,407 saw a .8 percent increase in value, and the $1,820 personal properties worth $383,571,520 saw a 4.9 percent increase in value.

Last year, the tax classification was tabled because some councilors didn't want to vote before free cash was certified. The FY25 recapitulation sheet shows $2.5 million in free cash appropriated to reduce the tax rate.

The city expects to raise a total of $232,299,670.99, which includes property taxes and local receipts.

Tags: fiscal 2025, pittsfield_budget, tax classification,

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Fenton: Governor's Council Must Deliver for the Berkshires

Community submissionGuest Column
10:22AM / Friday, August 28, 2026

I am a Springfield lawyer running for Governor's Council and I am asking for Berkshire County residents to support me over an incumbent from North Adams.

Here's why: Last year I learned about staffing issues in our regional courts that I could not ignore. In 2025, it was reported that four of Western Massachusetts' 11 Superior Court judgeships were vacant, all at the same time. A few weeks later, that grew to five vacancies. This meant there were only six Superior Court judges serving all of Western Mass at a time when Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties had more than 100 pending homicide cases.

Those numbers were alarming to me, so I started to engage with leaders in the community who work most closely with the court system and I came to learn that these vacancies were only the tip of the iceberg here in Berkshire County.

I learned that no Superior Court or District Court judge had been appointed from the Berkshires since the current incumbent took office. As a result, there is not a single Superior Court judge who lives in the Berkshires today, and several of the District Court judges drive in from other counties to support Berkshire courts in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and North Adams. Court staff also informed me about severe staffing shortages at the Berkshire Clerk of Courts office resulting in other counties needing to loan staff to the Berkshires just so hardworking employees can take a brief and planned summer vacation. This is not normal. These issues are a reflection of genuine problems with the Berkshire County court system and show a lack of proactive attention from our Governor's Councilor.

Instead of focusing on regional equity, I watched as the current incumbent celebrated that she has voted against the governor's nominees more than any other councilor, without much explanation as to why. Most recently, she voted against two extremely qualified former prosecutors for the Parole Board. This was despite an in-person plea from the governor and a letter of support from all the three of the district attorney's from Western Mass. Those votes do not show independence or standing up for principles, they demonstrate naivete, and an unwillingness to work with the key stakeholders.

I had seen and heard enough. I decided to jump in the race and challenge the incumbent to address these problems head-on.

I am a partner of a regional law firm. I understand our courts and the importance of having qualified, fair and hardworking judges. And I know how important it is to have judges from the Berkshires serving the Berkshires. To achieve that, you need strong relationships with the legal community and local stakeholders. You need to know how to use the power of the Governor's Council to fight forcefully for our region. And you need to be laser focused on identifying vacancies before they occur so that they can be filled quickly with local candidates.

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