WESTFIELD—According to Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan, the city received notice on Wednesday, following the Department of Revenue’s financial closeout of FY 2017, that just over $4.3 million has been certified as free cash and a portion of those funds is expected to be used to reduce taxes for residents.
“There’s a real cooperation with department heads and unions and my administration to get something done,” Sullivan said. “And a number like $4 million is an indication of how successful we’ve been.”
Sullivan said that roughly $2 million will go toward reducing the tax obligation of residents, which will help to lower the tax hike many were led to believe would happen. Sullivan said that this will also coincide with the roughly $1.6 million in budget reductions that he and the City Council worked on recently.
Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan (WNG file photo)
Another item that Sullivan would like to see the money used towards includes the construction of Hangar Two at Barnes Regional Airport for the Westfield Technical Academy’s Aviation Technology Department. This amount is yet to be determined due to the request for proposal on the project still being out, but this would allow for the city not to utilize money from its stabilization account for the project, Sullivan said.
“Then the rest right now we’re not going to be spending it real quick,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to look ahead to the snow and ice account and look towards the rest of the fiscal year to do some other projects, as permitted.”
One notable item that is not expected to receive the certified free cash is the Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) that the city has.
“Right now I don’t anticipate any of this going toward OPEB,” Sullivan said. “The $700,000 I put in this year is a pretty healthy number and we have some projects that I’d like to see done. Right now I feel like the number we have in there is a great start.”
Sullivan did say however, that he anticipates the city putting OPEB monies into the fiscal budget moving forward.
The city was able to acquire the free cash through multiple sources. Among them are $1.1 million that came from last year’s free cash that was not utilized, as well as budgeting within the city. In addition, Sullivan said funds came from non-recurring revenues within the city, including work by the Law Department’s Assistant City Solicitor Meghan Bristol and the Treasurer-Collector Meghan Kane.
“The extensive work the law department and treasurer have done in regards to tax title and going after those monies that are owed to the city over time, that yielded roughly $1 million,” Sullivan said. “That’s a program we spent a lot of focus on.”
According to Sullivan, the total reduction in budget and taxes is not known but he and the departments in the city will be working on getting that number by next week during the City Council’s special meeting on the tax shift.
“It’s going to be a work in progress until the special meeting. Next Thursday the city council will have special meeting on tax shift and at that point in time I will come to them with a number,” Sullivan said.
