Great Barrington — At the Berkshire Hills Regional School District Committee meeting on Thursday, January 15, Superintendent of Schools Peter Dillon issued preliminary information on the district’s budget for fiscal year 2027.
Last year, the school committee approved the fiscal 2026 budget for $35.1 million, a $1.56 million (4.66 percent) increase over fiscal 2025.
At the January 15 meeting, Dillon shared some preliminary information with the committee as the group—and other municipal officials in other departments—prepares to formulate a new fiscal budget.
Dillon said that, as in previous years, the assessment to towns will be based on enrollment percentages.
For fiscal 2026, Great Barrington paid an assessment of $22.2 million, a $1.17 million (5.55 percent) increase from fiscal 2025. Stockbridge paid a net assessment of $4.09 million, a $222,661 (5.76 percent) increase from this fiscal 2025, and West Stockbridge paid $3.55 million, a $105,035 (2.87 percent) reduction from this fiscal 2025.
According to Dillon, 74 percent of currently enrolled students come from Great Barrington, 13 percent come from Stockbridge, and 12 percent from West Stockbridge.
Dillon said that the high school building project’s capital interest cost for fiscal 2027 is $117,713. “We are meeting with the bond people next week on a number of things, but our initial plan is to do two to three years of short-term borrowing [with only interest paid] and then roll that into a much bigger thing for the life of the project,” Dillon told members of the committee.
As for what he called “known unknowns,” Dillon said that a dollar number for Chapter 70 state school aid will be released in Gov. Maura Healey’s budget on Wednesday, January 28. According to school budget information for fiscal 2026, the school district’s Chapter 70 revenue for this school year is $3.47 million, a two percent, or $67,950, increase from last year.
Also on January 28, the school district’s insurance provider, Berkshire Health Group, will be setting its fiscal 2027 health and dental insurance rates. For this school year, there was a six percent increase in employee health insurance premiums and a 3.5 percent increase in dental plan premiums.
“In our projected budget, we have the increase at 14 percent [for fiscal 2027],” Dillon said. “If it comes in at 14 percent or lower, we’ll do a little dance. If it comes in at 14.1 percent or higher, we will come up with a plan.”
The committee is scheduled to further discuss the district’s fiscal 2027 budget at its upcoming meeting on Thursday, January 29, at 6 p.m.
