Westfield City Councilors try to dictate budget to mayor
In a seemingly never-ending quest for control over the mayor’s decisions, Councilor Flaherty, along with his allies, Councilors Allie, Emmershy and Surprise, are trying to dictate the city’s budget to Mayor Sullivan.
After years of advocating for unsustainably low budgets which brought us the poor road conditions they are complaining about, these councilors are trying to bamboozle residents into believing the solution to the problem is to set up a special account, funded with the hotel and meals tax revenue, to increase the money spent on roads by about $600,000 per year.
Then, in a nonsensical attempt to force the mayor to agree to their demands, they have threatened to repeal the meal and hotel taxes if the special account isn’t set up. This bit of insanity would lead to even less revenue for the city and lead to even worse roads. Not only that, our schools and all the other city services would be negatively impacted as well.
Furthermore, their hair-brained scheme isn’t even possible. They want to require the money that goes into the account is spent in addition to the money already being spent on roads. But under Massachusetts law, the mayor sets the budget. The city council cannot require the mayor to add to the budget. Period. End of story. Here’s the what the law says:
“The city council may by majority vote make appropriations for the purposes recommended and may reduce or reject any amount recommended in the annual budget. It shall not increase any amount in or the total of the annual budget nor add thereto any amount for a purpose not included therein except on recommendation of the mayor…”
Councilor Flaherty has tried to claim that with a 2/3rds majority they can force the mayor to spend the money, citing Section 33 of MGL. This is also false. It’s only true if the mayor fails to submit a written recommendation for a proposal.
So all of this is a futile smoke and mirrors show by Councilor Flaherty and his allies and it’s shameful. Rather than admit the simple fact that cuts in taxes will lead to a lower quality of services for residents, they want to try to pin the blame on the mayor for not accepting their “solution” that does nothing to increase the budget for the roads and will only lead to budget cuts to other city services.
If Councilor Flaherty wants the power bestowed upon the mayor under Massachusetts law, he needs to become mayor. In the meantime, he should level with voters and let them know that nothing in life is free. If you want good roads, you have to be willing to pay for them.
Sincerely,
Steve Dondley
