I’m disappointed The Westfield News did not report on the new residential property tax rate that went into effect for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The rate was communicated with the property tax notifications received several days ago. The FY 2014 residential rate of $18.18 / $1,000 of assessed property value is 8.7 percent. higher than the FY 2013 residential tax rate of $16.72 / $1,000 of assessed value. Granted, the city did lower assessed values, however, not nearly at the same percentage. Thus, yes, higher taxes again in Westfield. Be wary of the shell game. Make your voices heard.
I am a disabled person, living alone, 85-years-old, and I recently got my tax bill. I was appalled at what they are asking us. Those people that voted for our illustrious mayor deserve what they get: more taxes, more taxes, more taxes. That’s all that man has on his mind is raise the taxes, raise the taxes. I feel very sorry for the retired and for the handicapped because we’re not getting anything out of any of this, but of course our illustrious mayor is. I hope this gets into the PulseLine. I doubt that it will but I sure hope it will. Just give people an update, please. On the next election, which is very far off, please don’t put that man back in office because those that voted for him are getting exactly what they deserve: more taxes.
For the latest news on the tax rate, read Dan Moriarty’s January 7 story, “Council drops levy issue,” here: https://thewestfieldnews.com/?p=68781
The first week of December I paid The Westfield News bill for 12 weeks. I have the return check so I know it was cashed. Since Christmas I have had 4 times the paper has not been delivered, 3 on weekdays (one being 1/10/14) and once on Saturday 1/11/14. One of the weekdays I would concede to because the roads were a bit dicey. The other days there was absolutely no reason not to deliver the paper. There also has been no attempt made to deliver the missed papers on the following day. Not delivering the papers at all tells me it might be time for a new carrier who cares about their job. Failure to deliver the paper even though it might be a day late, is nothing but the height of laziness.
Hi there, PulseLine! Listen, my husband and I bought a small home here in Southwick and we have two children of school age. We bought the house because we figured our children will have a nice open area to have fun, and there’s farmland around and they can sort of, you know, play outdoors. To my surprise, the town of Southwick doesn’t have an outdoor skating rink, with all the land they have here. They don’t have an outdoor skating rink. They don’t have a pool for the kids in the summer. And I don’t understand this. What is wrong with the town of Southwick? They don’t want the kids on the lake. We tell our kids: “Stay off the lake. Don’t go near the lake. Don’t go on the lake in the winter.” And the kids have nothing to do in Southwick unless you put them in the car and traipse them to Westfield to an indoor arena, which costs money and, as parents, we don’t always want to go that far in the winter. We want to drop the kids off at a skating rink right here in Southwick. So, why doesn’t somebody make one? I was told by the selectmen’s office: “Yes, you can go to Westfield to Amelia Park.” Well, Amelia Park costs money. It also only has skating at certain times and it is indoors. Not everybody always wants to skate indoors. So, what we’d like to see is a skating rink in Southwick. Or is Southwick a little bit too lazy to put up a skating rink? After all, it is only water. And, by the way, Southwick, how about a pool at Whalley Park this summer for our kids? Not everybody owns a pool at their home and we don’t want our kids always swimming in the lake, thank you very much. So, it would be nice if there was something for the kids to do. Years ago, when I was younger, we always had a skating rink – everywhere. Mostly every town had one. Well, Southwick, why don’t you stop being lazy and build the kids a skating rink here in Southwick? It only takes a couple days and water and all you have to do is plow it off, which isn’t very hard with the equipment you have. Thank you.
You people should be ashamed about what is being printed in the Westfield newspaper about Domus, Incorporated. Domus, Incorporated helps people get on their feet. Look what they do in the community. When they built that new house on Main Street they used all local tradesmen to build that house. They didn’t go out of the area to bring somebody else in. The strict policies they have with their tenants. The good they do with AA, a soup kitchen, a food bank on their properties. Now this woman wants to help teenagers that are homeless. Are you willing to take a homeless teenager into your house and help them? If not, you should not be saying anything bad about what Domus is doing for people. Please make sure that you understand that what you are referring to are PulseLine comments not articles written by The Westfield News reporting staff.
