The operating total does not include the town's contribution toward the annual budget of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, the school committee of which has yet to adopt its own budget, though its deliberations started Thursday night.
The Berkshire Hills school committee is expected to vote Thursday night to approve its own spending proposal of $26.2 million. The vote to approve it is almost a foregone conclusion after last week's quiet and harmonious public hearing.
Ironically, it actually cost a lot of money to keep the overall increases down. In order to limit the operating budget increase to 4.21 percent, the school committee had to spend $840,000 from a reserve fund known as excess and deficiency.
Even though the folks at Construct tried to remain optimistic and right by my side, there were times I could see their optimism waiver, as it is a daunting task to find affordable housing in Berkshire County.
“I was incredibly surprised by the magnitude of their impacts myself,” said Williams College economics professor Stephen Sheppard. “If you live in the county, you think of Kripalu as this funky, interesting yoga thing.”
In total, of the $222,476 in cuts Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin presented, about $190,000 was approved by the Selectboard and Finance Committee.
"This is a year of real austerity.”
-- Finance Committee Chairman Tom Blauvelt.
“This proposal would devastate working families. It is painfully short-sighted and makes a mockery of the President’s promise to make our country safer and to support inner cities and rural communities alike.”
-- Jodi Grant, Executive Director Afterschool Alliance
In his letter to the editor, Fred Clark writes: “School budgeting must shift from a reactive mode to a strategic budgeting approach taking into consideration long-term needs and resources.”
“Capitalism has its limits. I’m a capitalist but it has to end somewhere. In this case I am for spending taxpayer money.”
-- George Beebe, speaking on behalf of granting $170,000 of Community Preservation Act money to Windy Hill Farm for an Agriculture Preservation Restriction
In his letter to the editor, John Hart of Stockbridge writes: “We don't often know that the total cost of what we are voting for is not being put before us.”
“I’ve been moderator for 21 years, and lived here for longer, and I’ve never seen or heard of a school budget defeated,” commented Town Moderator Edward McCormick. The defeat will not affect programming this year, provided Stockbridge approves the budget next week.
In her letter to the editor, Rebecca Gold writes: “Allocating taxes fairly is an adult problem and children should not be punished for a problem that adults haven't been able to fix.”
