We are elected to represent every single person who lives in Westfield, from our city employees, teachers, children, next-door neighbors, retirees, to our parents and grandparents. We are one community, trying to make Westfield the best city to live in.
Working families, small business owners, single moms working 3 jobs, seniors trying to keep their homes, or city employees do not want to be lectured by politicians, who may live inside the bubble, or make a good living working for government or for unions.
Some people are trying to place the blame for Westfield’s financial situation on the wrong things such as, “taxes are going up because last year, for the first time in ten years, the city did not increase taxes”. Sorry, but that dog won’t hunt.
Let me make this as simple as I can.
If the city raises property taxes by 2.5%, it collects $1.7 million dollars. Property values have remained flat and Westfield is not growing like it was 10 years ago. As a result, we only collect about a million dollars in revenue from new growth each year.
Add those two numbers together. The Mayor or the city cannot spend 3, 4, 5 plus million dollars with 2.7 million dollars. We knew 16 months ago, the 2018 and 2019 budgets contained millions in new spending. A few councilors were willing to cast protest votes after the labor contracts were approved in 2016, in an effort to get the Mayor to give us the total cost of the increases for the second and third years. That way people would know how much these items would cost, in dollars. Percentages mean very little to most people.
When it became obvious the city could no longer afford to pay its 80% portion to the health plan, it should have done something we could afford that would help our employees, retirees, and not tax people out of their homes. Many city employees understand this, and say they would have accepted a combination of modest raises, premium holidays, (which save our employees, retirees and the city money.) No property tax increase is the same as a pay raise, even for people making $50,000 to $100,00 a year. It is not how much you make, it is how much you get to keep. We are elected to represent all the people of Westfield, not just the ones who can afford another $245 per year. Our city employees will tell you there are areas where the city can save money.
The Finance committee dealt with many “prior year” expenses. The city had to cover about a million dollars in Chapter 90 spending that was not approved by the state. Another problem is it costs too much for many things that government does. It cost the city $300,000 to replace “a decorative railing” that was falling down next to a 20-foot drop to the Westfield River. A traffic light costs $500,000.
The 2018 budget does not include enough funds for overtime for police and fire, police cars, snow removal, and there are other pressures on the budget.
I would have stayed in session as long as it took, and supported any sensible savings to bring the budget into balance. Just like last year, we did not have the votes to pass more than a few reductions. My name is the first item on the city budget, and we voted to cut city councilor’s pay. The second item is the Mayor’s salary. This is where some knees began to buckle. The largest “cut” was not a cut at all, since design work by the Engineering Department was likely to be funded through the use of Community Preservation funds.
People understand it is a bad idea to deplete the stabilization fund to cover operating expenses. Some councilors want to use stabilization funds, or blame a tax increase on members who don’t go along. We need to do something to remedy this situation, but placing the blame on the wrong thing is never the answer. There are important decisions and a question on the November 7th ballot. Be sure to vote. Your Voice Matters.
Dan Allie – At-Large City Councilor
