Pittsfield Begins Review of $226M Budget for Fiscal 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — On the second night of fiscal year 2026 budget hearings, the City Council preliminarily approved 11 departmental budgets in 40 minutes.

Conversation on Thursday began with a discussion about employee raises. Mayor Peter Marchetti explained that everyone's raises are different, but his, based on the consumer price index, is a 3.1 percent hike from $119,313 to $125,279.

The budget was presented on Wednesday, May 21.  

"For department heads and some middle managers, they're also with the same CPI index of 3.1 percent. According to the code, the mayor is entitled to give them a merit-based raise if he or she chooses to. I did for all the department heads retroactively, and it was just recently that I had done that," he explained.

"And the logic behind it is, if you pick up a union contract, and I'm just generically speaking, if a union contract says their (Cost of living adjustment) is 3 percent they're also entitled to a step increase, which is about 3 percent and so staff is getting a pay raise of 6 percent while the administrative team is only getting a raise of 3.1 percent and in some cases, very quickly, the second in command could be making more than the department based on contract."

When an employee meets all of their requirements and goals, they are entitled to a two percent merit raise. There are merit raises budgeted for FY26 so far.

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant was absent, and there were no speakers during public comment.

Mayor

The $275,723 mayor's office budget was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $13,907, or 5.31 percent, increase from the previous year.

RSVP

The $132,021 Retired Senior Volunteer Program Budget was preliminarily approved with some discussion. It is a $7,943, or 6.40 percent, raise from the previous year.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa inquired about $35,000 and $36,000 salary lines in the department, as they are "extremely low." Director Lisa Torrey explained that those positions get about a $10,000 pay bump through a grant.

Marchetti added that the city has an RFP out for a salary study over the next couple of months.

"I honestly don't think anybody should make less than $40,000," Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso said. "And even at $40,000, it's tough to pay for rent and food."

The mayor said he would "absolutely" take that into consideration.

"And what I am going to say to you guys, collectively, there'll be two issues with that," he said.

"First, that wonderful thing called Proposition 2.5, and then secondly, happy to do it, but when I present the budget that's now considerably higher than the one that's in front of me …"
 

Library

The $1,727,177 Berkshire Athenaeum budget was preliminarily approved with some discussion. It is a $138,857, or 8.74 percent increase from the previous year.

The library added a fifth first assistant to the Adult Services department to meet the growing needs of the community. Director Alex Reczkowski compared the position to the school departments' teachers of deportment, which focus on the class conduct rather than academic materials.

"We have people who bring their whole selves to the library, and so we're looking for kind of a teacher of deportment for Adult Services," he explained.

He added that the library doesn't necessarily have a staff member creating activities for folks spending lots of time there during the day, and this extra position can do that.

Ward 3 Councilor Matthew Wrinn said that constituents have struggled with some of the activity going on around the library. Outside the library is a popular spot for unhoused people to sleep while shielded from the elements.

"We talked about it and I don't know if the general public knows how much effort you guys are doing there to kind of clean things up, for lack of a better term," he said.

The $846,771 Office of Community Development budget was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $23,225, or 2.82 percent, increase from the previous year.

Ward 7 Councilor Rhonda Serre commented that she is "very happy" with Downtown Pittsfield Inc.'s work and has seen a lot of growth downtown in the last couple of years.
 

Airport

The $377,493 Pittsfield Municipal Airport budget was preliminarily approved with some discussion. It is a $39,141, or 11.5 percent, increase from the previous year.

Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey and Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi highlighted the airport's revenue to the city, Lampiasi coining it a "success story."
 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The $210,171 Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion budget was preliminarily approved with some discussion. It is a $23,669, or 12.69 percent, increase from the previous year.

"I know that talking about diversity, equity, inclusion, especially now, can be uncomfortable and I've heard from folks in our community that we should change the name, we should change what we do, ‘We're afraid of losing federal dollars,' and I think this is such an important role that our government must play in our community," Costa said.

"And I encourage folks who don't understand why this is important or what the office is doing to really reach out to (Director Michael Obasohan)."

Language stipends for bilingual employees have been moved from Human Resources to this office. There are seven employees who receive the stipend, and Obasohan reported that a Mandarin-speaking community member felt they communicated effectively in the City Hall for the first time when a trained staff member used a language device to translate.

Costa reported that many households who speak English as a second language say they feel more welcome and better understood at City Hall in the past few years, "And I think that's just really a really important circumstance."
 

Human Resources

The $283,396 Human Resources budget was preliminarily approved with some discussion. It is a $10,022, or 3.67 percent, increase from the previous year.

Kavey and Wrinn voted in opposition.

Kavey pointed to higher raises in the department, such as seven percent, and that he has voted against the Human Resources budget in the past for that reason.

"This one is just making me uncomfortable, because it's been consistently high raise after consistently high raise after consistently high raise," he said.

"It's not that I don't think people should be paid, but when I'm only seeing it for a certain department, not for other departments, it just makes my ears go up."
 

Council on Aging

The $418,938 Council on Aging budget was approved with no discussion. It is a $7,835, or 1.91 percent, increase from the previous year.

City Clerk

The $443,476 City Clerk's Office budget was preliminarily approved with no discussion. It is a $6,936, or 1.59 percent, increase from the previous year.
 

Veterans

The $918,978 Veterans' Services budget was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $92,109, or 11.14 percent, increase from the previous year.

"The budget should be a lot bigger for this organization," Wrinn said. "[Director Jim Clark] does a ton for veterans and for the community."
 

Cultural Development

The $140,008 Office of Cultural Development budget was preliminarily approved with no discussion. It is a $5,784, or 4.31 percent, increase from the previous year.
 

BRTA Focuses on a New Run Schedule