By Dick Lindsay
The Berkshire Eagle Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council is lobbying Mayor James M. Ruberto to include a new fire truck for the Pittsfield Fire Department in his capital improvement plan for fiscal 2012.
The council is seeking $450,000 for a new fire engine, atop the $8.6 million in capital expenditures proposed for the new budget year starting July 1.
The 11-member City Council has asked Ruberto return with a revised capital spending plan, which is in addition to Ruberto’s proposed $129.3 million operating budget for fiscal 2012. The council has until June 30 to adopt both budgets; a final vote is expect at the council’s June 30 meeting.
The fire truck request came after Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski told the council that a pair of aging regular fire trucks are facing lengthy repairs and have been temporarily replaced with all available reserve vehicles.
“If we lose any more [trucks], we’ll have to rely more on mutual aid from other communities,” Czerwinski said.
Ward 4 Councilor Michael L. Ward tried unsuccessfully to redirect $300,000 within the $8.6 million capital budget toward a new fire truck. But councilors can only make cuts to the bottom line; they can’t reallocate capital spending to other projects. Nevertheless, the council’s narrow 6-5 defeat of eliminating a $300,000 traffic light from the capital plan sent a message to the mayor.
“It was clear what the council was trying to do, so it made sense to ask the mayor to consider adding a fire truck,” Councilor at large Peter M. Marchetti said on Thursday.
Ruberto will seriously consider the fire truck proposal.
“For the last eight years, the council and I have worked cooperatively to craft a capital plan that reflects our priorities,” he said. “I see no reason that we cannot do that this year.”
Ruberto is also willing to consider the City Council’s request that he use more than the proposed $1 million in surplus city funds — so-called “free cash” — in order to reduce the budget’s impact on the taxpayers. The proposed residential and commercial tax rates are preliminary until December when the council finalizes the figures based on city financial officials recommendations.
“If, in November, we find we have more than the current $4.3 million in free cash,” said Ward 5 Councilor Jonathan N. Lothrop on Thursday, “then maybe we can use another $1 million to take down the tax rate a couple of percentage points.”
The council on June 28 is expected to approve the $1 million request, pending any revised financial information later this fall.
If the budget and “free cash” request are enacted as is, the residential tax rate would increase 99 cents — from $15.19 per $1,000 of valuation to $16.18. The average residential tax bill for a single-family home assessed at $180,293 would jump $122.61 to 2,917.14.
Commercial property owners face a $2.75 rate hike going from $30.95 to $33.70. Their average tax bill on property valued at $532,960 would increase from $597 to $17,960 in fiscal 2012.
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