Stockbridge Finance Committee Defers $25,000 Ambulance Capital Vote Pending Great Barrington Decision

STOCKBRIDGE -- April 23, 2026, Stockbridge Finance Committee recommends most annual warrant articles to Town Meeting, deferring a $25,000 ambulance capital appropriation. The committee voted 5-0 on nearly every article at its April 23 meeting, including a 4.7 percent town operating budget increase, the Berkshire Hills Regional School System operating budget and a $37,000 capital budget, and an OPEB trust fund transfer from a balance of approximately $4.7 million. On the contested ambulance items, the committee approved a $25,000 one-year operating contribution to Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Service for Stockbridge's Furnace District, the first such contribution in roughly a decade, which members called a management lapse, but held a companion $25,000 capital equipment item until the May 11 Special Town Meeting, citing uncertainty over Great Barrington's budget and a pending override vote. "Twenty-five thousand dollars for an $800,000 ambulance is like nothing at all," one member said of the capital request. Community Preservation Act grant items under Article 12 required two separate 4-0 recusal votes, with one member stepping aside from a Sportsmen's Club item due to a paid treasurer stipend and another recusing from a Norman Rockwell Museum item due to an officer role.