Finance committee recommends North Adams budget after debate over revenue projections and $663,000 stabilization draw

The North Adams Finance Committee voted to recommend several sections of the city’s fiscal-year budget to the full City Council on June 23, advancing spending plans that combine modest department reductions with a draw on reserves and revenue assumptions that several councilors described as tentative.

The mayor, who presented the revised numbers to the committee, said the administration trimmed roughly $298,000 from department requests to help close an estimated $1.8 million gap. "So that came up with 298,000 and change in cuts," the mayor said, listing reductions that included elimination of a vacant part-time city-clerk position (about $20,000), deferring some IT and other projects (roughly $100,000) and cutting a special-assistant/administrative-officer position (about $84,000).

Committee members then paused a motion to recommend the full budget so staff could walk through revenue assumptions. Finance staff reviewed the state aid "cherry sheet," which shows $23.8 million gross in state receipts but also includes roughly $4.4 million in state assessments and about $434,000 of designated funds (veterans, library) that are not available to the general fund. The administration said those are projections and remain subject to change.

Local receipts — the administration’s targeted $9.4 million — drew sustained skepticism. One councilor said she had "serious reservations" about moving forward on the votes before seeing the full revenue picture. The mayor acknowledged the uncertainty but said the projections are based on recent trends and specific anticipated increases, including room-occupancy receipts (projected to rise to about $700,000) and modest growth in cannabis and meals taxes.

The mayor also confirmed the budget relies on a draw from stabilization: "Yes, that 663 (thousand) from stabilization — it's something we don't like to do, but we did," she said, defending the choice as measured and noting the administration did not empty the reserve.

On public-safety spending, several members questioned whether staffing and overtime could be trimmed. The mayor and public-safety supporters defended current staffing levels as essential, citing the scale and variety of emergency calls the city handles.

After the revenue review and discussion, the committee moved and seconded recommendations for the following sections to the full council: public services ($4,697,211); unclassified ($12,552,925.30); capital ($1,110,000); general government ($2,753,014); and public safety ($8,270,460.96). The committee also approved a motion recommending the full budget package as presented to the council. Committee votes were recorded as "all in favor" and the recommendations will now go to the full council for final action.

Public commenters urged regional collaboration and asked whether major cultural institutions could play a larger financial role; staff responded that many museum tenants pay property taxes and that the museum building itself is tax-exempt. Several members urged quarterly fiscal check-ins with administration and a five-year scenario forecast to reduce reliance on one-time reserves.

The council is expected to consider the recommended budget at an upcoming meeting; the administration said it will continue to update revenue figures as state and local receipts are finalized.