WESTFIELD—The tax shift for taxpayers in Westfield is expected to be determined Thursday evening at City Hall.
The Westfield City Council will be holding a special meeting Thursday to determine the FY 2018 tax shift for taxpayers in the city and also vote on approving $1.5 million in free cash funds to be used toward reducing the city’s budget. The tax shift is voted on annually by the City Council, based on the budget and other information provided by the Mayor.
“It’s the percentage that the commercial will pay versus residential,” Robin Johnson, Auditor for Westfield, said about the tax shift.
“The vote that the council makes, I supply all the tools to set the rate, and then it is up to them to set the split as residential against commercial,” Sullivan said.
This past year, Johnson said that the tax shift was set at 1.66. This meant that those paying commercial taxes paid 66 percent more than those paying residential in Westfield. The tax rates for last year were $19.42 per $1,000, while the commercial and industrial was $37.08 per $1,000.
Johnson said that in recent history the city has chosen to set the tax shift between 1.63 and 1.67. And while there is no maximum that can be placed on the residential tax shift, Johnson said that the maximum tax shift that is allowed on commercial is 75 percent.
According to City Council President and At-Large Councilor Brent Bean, II, the council must get the tax shift in place soon, in time for upcoming tax bills.
“We need to get that finalized before the Dec. 7 council meeting so they can get the bills out,” he said.
The bills reflected will be ones that go out Jan. 1, which is actually the start of the third quarter of FY 2017.
“The way we raise the money, we actually live six months through the budget,” Bean said.
The tax shift, according to Bean, will need just a majority vote for it to pass, once a number is determined.
In addition to the tax shift, Sullivan has proposed $1.5 million be used from free cash funds in order to reduce the city’s budget. Bean said that this specific item was the more pressing need of the council.
According to Sullivan, this reduction could help lower taxes for residents.
“My estimate is they leave the shift as it was last year, which is totally up to them, not a recommendation, just using last year’s shift, taxes would decrease around 20 cents per thousand,” Sullivan said.
Johnson said that based on the existing 1.66 tax shift and the $1.5 million reduction, would reduce residential rates to $19.27 per $1,000 and commercial $36.96 per $1,000.
