DAN ALLIE
WESTFIELD – City Council members voted last night to support a resolution seeking restoration of state aid to the city, which has been significantly cut in recent years, placing a greater tax burden on property owners to operate the city and maintain its infrastructure.
At-large Council Dan Allie made the motion to send a resolution approved by the entire council to House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) seeking legislative support to restore lottery revenue to its intended purpose and to restore Chapter 90 funding to repair and repave city roads.
Allie, who found a sympathetic audience among his fellow councilors, said the state has systematically diverted funds, such as lottery revenues for its use and that it has increased taxes, increased its revenue, but at the same time cut aid to local cities and towns.
“Local aid to the city has been cut by about a million dollars a year for the past five years,” Allie said while explaining his motion to pass a resolution. “This has placed a tremendous strain on our city budget.”
“Local aid is vital to cities like Westfield, because it helps keep pressure off our local property taxes,” Allie said. “The lottery fund was created to provide revenue for services such as police, fire and education.”
Allie further argued that cities and towns should receive hard aid number in March when local communities are developing their budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
“We need that information prior to the municipal budget process,” Allie said.
Ward 1 Councilor Christopher Keefe, chairman of the Finance Committee, said that town budgets are typically approved in April at annual town meetings, but that the state aid figures are often not finalized until June when city legislative bodies are approving their next annual budget.
“I totally support this motion,” Keefe said. “We’re down $4 million, money out of our pockets while the state is bleeding money.”
At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty said the City Council usually does not send resolutions to other legislative bodies, but that in this case such action is appropriate.
“I usually don’t like sending resolutions, but we’ve been complaining about this (loss of state aid) for years,” Flaherty said. “The state has increased taxes, but sends the money to other places. It is not coming back to cities and towns.”
Allie said the state budget has grown by $6 billion over the past five years and that revenue income has far exceeded the projections used to establish the budget and levels of state spending.
“Last year, Massachusetts reported nearly a billion dollar surplus in revenue,” Allie said. “Yet local aid to cities and towns and Chapter 90 funding, for our roads, were cut. The state could have taken a small portion of the surplus, about 10 percent or $100 million and restored aid to every city and town in Massachusetts.”
The resolution was approved by an unanimous voice vote.
“I believe that every citizen, including members of the city council, have a right and obligation to address what our government is doing and how it affects them,” said Allie in a statement this morning.
“Westfield has lost approximately 5 million dollars in local aid over the last five years, putting a tremendous strain on our city budget, and is major contributing factor to increasing property taxes in Westfield. We are taxing our residents out of their homes,” said Allie.
“The state raised taxes by half a billion dollars and reinstated the tolls on the Turnpike. Even when the state has surplus monies, and money in the Lottery Fund, it does not provide cities such as Westfield the funds we need to run our city” he said. “The Turnpike has been paid for many times over, and the vendor fees for billboards, restaurants and gas stations are supposed to fund maintenance of the Pike.”
“Back then we were told it would reduce taxes, and provide funding for police, fire and education,” said Allie, in reference to the Massachusetts State Lottery, which was created in 1971 to provide local aid revenues for cities and towns. “Originally, excise taxes on vehicles were to go toward maintenance of our roads. We pay the tax but do not get the benefit of good roads or the services promised, because our government repurposes the use of our tax dollars.”
