Great Barrington — After a nearly two-hour meeting, the Selectboard and the Finance Committee approved the town’s municipal operating budget for FY27 on Wednesday, April 8.
After a debate between members of both boards, the Selectboard approved a Proposition 2½ override ballot question for the town meeting by a vote of 4-1, with Selectboard member Garfield Reed voting against it.
The annual town meeting is scheduled for Saturday, May 2, at 2 p.m. at Monument Mountain Regional High School.
At a meeting on Tuesday, April 7, Town Manager Liz Hartsgrove proposed a revised budget of $16,345,834, a reduction of $346,910 from this year’s municipal budget.
She said that, in utilizing $2 million in free cash, she was able to reduce operating costs by $1,606,379.
Hartsgrove stated that she also implemented numerous budgetary reductions across several town departments.
As part of her budget proposal, Hartgrove removed numerous line items from the proposed budget, totaling $341,964, and has requested that each line item be presented as a special article for residents to vote on at the upcoming town meeting.
These line items include:
- Lifeguards at Lake Mansfield $61,285;
- Skatepark monitor $32,678;
- Housatonic Water Works legal fees $75,000;
- Co-responder program, a community-based public safety and behavioral health initiative, $100,000;
- VFW property lease $30,000;
- American Legion property lease $23,000.
At the beginning of the April 8 meeting, both boards held a public hearing for residents to speak about the proposed budget.
Resident Ananda Timpane, who is also the Executive Director of The Railroad Street Youth Project, spoke out in favor of the skatepark monitor line item.
“Twenty-five years ago, there wasn’t a skate park, and our community was not a place that was very welcoming of teens in town,” Timpane said. “Thank you all so much for looking out for the skate park attendant line item, making sure that there is a way for us to continue to support that space. It is actually one of the most intergenerational spaces in our community.”
Resident Elliot Seward issued his concerns about a request from the Police Department for $48,201 from the free cash budget line item for 30 Axon Body 4 cameras.
As explained at a meeting by Interim Police Chief Adam Carlotto back on March 3, the body cameras will have artificial intelligence tools, including real-time language translation.
At the March 3 meeting, Carlotto said, “There is no facial recognition in the Axon software.”
However, Seward still raised concerns about the bodycams.
“I am deeply concerned with and also opposed to the proposed use of AI facial recognition software by the Great Barrington Police Department, which is included in this fiscal year’s budget,” Seward said. “AI is an industry and technology that is vastly unregulated by the companies, state and federal government. Images that may be captured on body cams that are equipped with AI software will most likely be uploaded to databases that AI companies use to train large language models and generative models. This is a major privacy concern for every one of us. AI face recognition tech scrapes images from social media, cash transfer sites like Venmo, and any other platform without preventative measures against AI, which is most platforms at this time. I believe this is a level of surveillance that isn’t necessary for our community, and has some ethical concerns as well.”
Resident James Bailey of Housatonic, who is the Post Commander of Veterans of Foreign War 8183, said he is not happy that the $30,000 VFW property lease line item was taken out of the main budget and put into a special article.
“We understand sacrifices,” Bailey said. “There is one group of individuals who understand sacrifices, and that is veterans. If we are to sacrifice funding, we’ll accept it. So if it comes to it, we’re willing to make that sacrifice so our community can be a better place for everybody. But at the meeting last night, we were described as a nonprofit, which is exactly what we are. To be categorized with nonprofits was a little bit offensive, but then I looked at the wonderful things that nonprofits do, including the Mahaiwe Theater, The Triplex, and St. James Place.”
Bailey said that, while the group appreciates the town funding given to the organization in the past, “we understand that if we have to make a sacrifice, we’re willing to do that.”
“But take a moment just to understand that not all nonprofits are equal,” he said. “Take a minute the next time you see a funeral, look at the honor guard. Those are men and women who want no recognition.”
Resident Deborah Herman, who said that she noticed that the budget has funds allocated for Old Maid’s Park, told both boards, “The town should consider renaming that park, because the name is rather offensive.”
“I’ve been to that park hundreds of times, and every time I go there, I wince at the name,” Herman said. “It makes me feel bad as an unmarried woman.”
Boards debate Proposition 2½ override, debt exclusion ballot questions
After the public hearing was closed, both boards debated over a Proposition 2½ override or debt exclusion ballot question at the annual town meeting.
Selectboard Chair Steve Bannon said that it is also possible to put both ballot questions to residents at the annual town meeting.
“I don’t think that these two committees together should make this decision,” Finance Committee member Anne O’Dwyer said. “I’m for putting something to the voters. Regarding that, I really think there’s not much appetite in the community for an override.”
O’Dwyer said that she wanted to put a vote on a debt exclusion at the annual town meeting.
Finance Committee Vice Chair Milena Cerna said she disagreed with O’Dwyer and said the vote should be on the Proposition 2½ override.
“I know the Proposition 2½ override is difficult for people to accept,” Cerna said. “However, whichever way we decide to go, what is going to happen is that we are going to be facing the same issue next year. Our tax levy is going to have a very minimal extra capacity this year. Our budgets are growing at four to five percent, and for the school system, seven percent. What’s bad, really, is how we manage our spending.”
Cerna pointed out that, back in October, S&P Global Ratings downgraded the town’s credit rating.
“What it means is that it is going to eventually cost us much more to borrow,” she said. “[An override] is a very—I think we really have to face reality and really do things the right way. If we are going with the override, we are going to be in a better position with the credit agencies.”
Bannon said he agreed with Cerna, but that if both boards supported a debt exclusion, he would go along with their decision.
“We have to do one or the other,” Bannon said. “[Debt] exclusion isn’t horrible, but if we do it this year, we’re going to have to do something next year. I think if I was a PR agent, I would say that the override gets really bad publicity. It’s really not as bad as everyone is saying. And as Melina pointed out, which is something I don’t think everyone understands, is that if we do [an override or a debt exclusion], it’s not going to change what your tax bill is going to be. What’s going to change it is the spending.”
Selectboard member Reed said he did not like either the override or debt exclusion option.
“Generally speaking, a debt exclusion would be less painful to taxpayers,” Reed said. “Proposition 2½ is permanent. But neither one excites me.”
“If I were to choose personally between these options, I would pick the override,” Selectboard member Eric Gabriel said. “As we mentioned before, the override has had bad publicity. With the school budget going up by seven percent, we have an ambulance squad asking for 30 to 40 percent more than they did last year, and we have insurance bills going up. Everybody would pay no taxes if that were the option, but people understand that there are services that the town government delivers. I understand the less painful portion of the debt exclusion, but at the end of the day, to be honest, the best option is the override.”
The debate continued between members of both boards for another 40 minutes.
Eventually, Gabriel made a motion for a Proposition 2½ ballot measure.
Because it is a ballot measure, it is under the purview of the Selectboard and not both boards.
The board eventually passed the ballot measure and, later on in the meeting, both boards approved the municipal budget to be sent to the annual town meeting.
On Thursday, April 9, in a four-hour-long meeting, the Selectboard and Finance Committee met to finalize annual town meeting warrant articles.
An article on this meeting will be published on Monday, April 13, by The Berkshire Edge.