NORTH ADAMS — The city overspent its snow and ice budget by about $100,000 last winter, but newly announced state relief money could help cover the gap.

The city spent roughly $326,000 plowing snow and fighting icy roads in fiscal 2026 against a budgeted $225,000, Finance Committee Chair Lisa Blackmer said Monday night while reviewing the Public Services budget with Commissioner Timothy Lescarbeau.

“We may not have gotten a lot of snow, but these mini ice and snow storms kill us,” Mayor Jennifer Macksey said at the meeting.

Blackmer said winter relief from the state may be on the way.

Gov. Maura Healey signed a $1.6 billion fiscal 2026 Fair Share supplemental budget bill Friday that will include some $100 million to provide winter relief for municipalities that were hit hard by the past winter season.

The law earmarks $80 million for winter infrastructure damage and snow and ice removal budget deficits and $20 million for communities that experienced extraordinary costs over the winter. It also includes other reimbursements for strained municipal services such as unpaved roads and special and rural education costs.

Berkshire County dodged last winter's heavy nor'easters, which dropped multiple feet of snow over much of New England. But Blackmer expects the winter relief funds will reimburse North Adams.

The North Adams Finance Committee met on Monday, June 15, where it reviewed and approved the city's public services budget. Public Services Commissioner Timothy Lescarbeau presented the budget, second from right, with committee members Andrew Fitch, Lisa Blackmer and Lillian Zavatsky, from left.

If the city gets those funds before June 30, when the fiscal year ends — which the committee and Macksey said was unlikely — it would use that money to offset snow and ice removal for fiscal 2026. If the money arrives after July 1, it will be for future storms and removal costs, depending on the program's final rules, Macksey said.

The committee did not know when that money would arrive in city coffers.

Lillian Zavatsky, a first-term city councilor new to the committee, asked why the city would only increase its fiscal year 2027 snow and ice budget $25,000 when it knows it will spend more than that. Blackmer explained that snow and ice removal is one of the only items that municipalities can overspend. If the city over budgets for snow and ice, it would need a council vote to move to spend elsewhere and the state typically does not allow you to decrease it back the next year, Macksey said.

Expenses in the Highway Department rose rapidly, with Lescarbeau mentioning the spike in gas and oil costs that affect the department’s budget from tree removal to paving roads to doubling the cost of fire hydrant replacement.

“Anything steel is just through the roof,” said Lescarbeau.

Natural and bottled gas costs, which are used for heating, increased 23 percent, from $190,000 to $235,000. The road paving budget, which is how the city fills potholes, increased 6.9 percent, from $58,000 to $62,000.

Most categories under public services, from the highway department to parks and recreation, rely on gas, oil and steel, Lescarbeau said, which drives up capital expenses.

But the Highway Department budget is down just under one percent over last year, decreasing $8,400 to $1.4 million, because of changes in salaries and a transfer of workers to other departments.

Public Services Administration salaries, currently a five-person team, increased by just two percent, from $369,000 to $378,000, largely driven by step increases.

With sharp increases in water and sewer department budgets, $60,000 for water and $250,000 for the Hoosac Water Quality District, Macksey said she was expecting to raise both rates but has not given any exact figures yet.

The public budget hearing where city council will vote to approve the total fiscal 2027 budget is June 23.