Great Barrington — The Selectboard and the Finance Committee started work on the town’s fiscal 2025 budget at its meeting on Monday, February 6. The meeting was the first in a series to review and go over the fiscal 2025 budget as proposed by Town Manager Mark Pruhenski.
“This is my fifth budget presentation as your town manager, and I just wanted to start by saying that this was by far the most challenging budget to draft in my time,” Pruhenski said at the beginning of the meeting. “Some really difficult decisions were made along the way out of necessity. And no doubt we’ll have some more difficult decisions to make in the coming weeks.”
In his budget proposal submitted to both the Selectboard and the Finance Committee, Pruhenski wrote that difficulty arose out of significant increases in fixed costs, including in debt service, retirement assessment, and insurance expenses, along with increases in the proposed public safety, buildings, and grounds maintenance budgets. He wrote that many budget requests made by department leaders were scaled back or eliminated.
Pruhenski is proposing a total fiscal 2025 budget of about $46.1 million, a $2.58 million or 5.9 percent increase from this year’s fiscal budget. As proposed by Pruhenski, the fiscal 2025 proposed town operating budget is about $16.5 million, an increase of about $1.89 million or 12.9 percent from this year’s budget. The town’s school assessment for its share of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District budget, which takes up most of the town’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget, is proposed at about $21 million, a $707,139 or 3.5 percent increase from this year’s fiscal budget.
As for the proposed fiscal 2025 municipal budget itself, the largest proposed increase listed is for the Building Commissioner and Inspector department. The total proposed amount listed for the department is $473,901 for fiscal 2025, a $283,265 or 148.59 percent proposed increase as listed in Pruhenski’s draft budget. “Recognizing the challenges of recruiting qualified candidates for this department, we transitioned from a two-person Building Department to a Shared Building Department covering permitting and inspectional services for four communities, including the towns of Lenox, Lee, and Stockbridge,” Pruhenski wrote. “The department now consists of a Building Commissioner, and three local Building Inspectors in addition to administrative staff. While the increase is steep, Great Barrington is only responsible for a portion of that total.”
At the February 6 meeting, Pruhenski explained that the town would be billing back Lenox, Lee, and Stockbridge for the department’s services, which means that the town would be responsible for 32.5 percent of the department’s budget.
Another sharp increase in Pruhenski’s proposed budget is in Debt Service, which Pruhenski proposes at about $3.38 million, a $882,284 or 35.35 percent increase from this year’s municipal budget. Pruhenski wrote that the increase is required to fund the interest on short- and long-term bonds and to fund debt issuance costs.
As for public safety, Pruhenski is proposing a $2.14 million fiscal 2025 budget for the town’s Police Department, which is a proposed increase of $157,087 or 7.91 percent from this fiscal year. Pruhenski wrote that the increase is driven by the need to increase salary lines to cover necessary overtime and for the department to remain competitive with other Berkshire County towns.
The fiscal 2025 budget for the town’s Fire Department, as proposed by Pruhenski, is $898,477, an increase of $59,798 or 7.13 percent from this fiscal year. Pruhenski wrote that the majority of the proposed increases are due to an increase in salaries, including the transition to a full-year fourth firefighter position that was approved by the town last year. Pruhenski added that the proposed increase is also due to vehicle and equipment maintenance and that maintenance and repair line items had been underfunded by the town for several years.
As for the town’s Department of Public Works, Pruhenski is proposing a budget of $2.03 million, an increase of $64,680 or 3.29 percent from this fiscal year. Pruhenski wrote that the proposed increase is due to line item increases in street and bridge maintenance and repairs, police details, travel and training, and a tool allowance for mechanics to maintain the department’s fleet of vehicles.
Pruhenski wrote that the Police, Fire, and DPW departments are not proposing to hire additional staff this year.
The Selectboard and Finance Committee are scheduled to hold multiple budget planning sessions throughout the month to review the proposed budget. The first meeting was held on Tuesday, February 6, and the second meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 7, at 6 p.m. The next two meetings in the budget review process are Tuesday, February 13, at 6 p.m., and Wednesday, February 14, at 6 p.m. A public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2025 budget will be held on Wednesday, February 28, at 6 p.m.
Full details on the budget planning session series are on the town’s website. Town Manager Mark Pruhenski’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget can be found here.
