When it comes to this year’s budget there are no good choices – we’re out of options.
I’ve been arguing for years for balanced realistic city budgets, control in the growth rate of expenses, and full transparency in the budget process. That hasn’t happened. The mayor has presented budgets in May or June for the upcoming fiscal years that intentionally do not present the entire realistic expenses of the city. Then he comes back mid-year and asks for the City Council to approve spending for known and necessary expenses such as overtime, severances, police cars, maintenance, and more… Every time he’s submitted a labor contract for the council to vote on, he refuses to provide the true cost of each year of the contract. The majority of City Councilors have gone along with this, and have refused to use the power and authority the Council has to get full and accurate costs before approving the appropriations for the labor contracts. The consequences of these actions are now being seen.
In this current fiscal year that ends Tuesday, the city has spent about $3.5 million more than we approved last June ($117.5 million spent vs $114 million approved last June). The city has withdrawn from the “Free Cash” account to cover recurring, often growing, operating expenses.
This year, the mayor has requested a general fund budget of $120.6. We don’t have the money. As mentioned above, the spending for the current fiscal year will be about $117.5 million – and to do that, the city took $3.5 million out of Free Cash. Now we’ve got a budget request for next year that is $3 million more than last year. How are we going to pay for that? We were short last year by $3.5 million, now we’ve got an additional $3 million on top of that. The answer, the mayor has proposed that we: MAXIMIZE property taxes, add new hotel and meals taxes, defer more obligations onto future generations of taxpayers, and DRAIN the Free Cash account. Even with all this, it’s not enough to make things balance. We know there are necessary expenses that are not in the budget, and that we’ll be scrambling in a few months to come up with ways to pay for them.
The primary driver of the increase in expenses was the labor contracts. Last year just about every city employee got a 2 percent raise, and this year just about every city employee got a 3 percent raise. Many got the base pay raise plus steps, plus education incentives, plus longevity. This adds up to millions of dollars – money that we just don’t have, and money that we knew we wouldn’t have when the mayor agreed to the labor contracts. Let me say that I think everyone that does a good job deserves decent pay and benefits. I’m not arguing about what anyone’s salary is, whether 2 or 3 percent is “fair”, or how it compares to employees in other cities or towns, or what anyone is “worth”. I’m saying we can’t afford it. We don’t have the consistent revenue to support those kinds of increases in expenses. We’d don’t have the reserves to keep deficit spending.
In order to even get to the $120.5 million budget for next year, the mayor had to make some cuts that will be hard on the residents of Westfield. There are about thirty positions in the schools that will be lost – many through retirements, but several through lay-offs. The Police Department can’t afford to fill three vacant police officer positions, so they are pulling the three School Safety Officers and deploying them into the regular police force. The new consolidated DPW department will not be able to fill several positions that are needed to deliver to expected level of services. The budget for road repairs was trimmed dramatically. The budget for maintenance of parks and city property was trimmed – just after we spent millions of dollars fixing up older parks and adding new recreational spaces. The airport is
short. The police cars got erased again. The snow and ice budget is well below what we typically need. And, there’s more.
We can’t keep spending more than we are bringing in. It’s basic math that every business owner and home owner knows. We have to live within our means.
We’re past the point of trimming fat. In order to balance next year’s budget without massive tax increases or overrides, and without completely draining the Free Cash account, we’re going to have to make very hard choices, and we’re going to have to cut deeper. Those in the medical world know that sometimes you have to cut off a limb to save a life. That’s where we’re at in the city. We have to cut important items. We have to cut labor and benefits. There’s nothing else to do. This will require changes in the way things are done, added burdens for some, hopefully some improvements in efficiency or some cross-training, and there will likely be some inconveniences for citizens.
We can’t push this off until next year. If we do, the problems will only be bigger, and we won’t have anything left in the Free Cash account to help cover the shortage.
I’ll be proposing over $2.5 million in cuts to the City Budget on Monday. Other councilors will be making additional suggestions for cuts. I’m sure many will argue against the cuts that I and others propose. Frankly, I doubt most of the cuts will get the seven votes necessary to pass, but I’m going to try. I know there is no fat. I know any cuts will have dramatic impacts. I know these are awful things to suggest. But, we have no choice. We don’t have the money, and we don’t have any realistic plan to acquire enough additional money in the near future. I can’t keep looking the other way and ignoring the problems, and I don’t believe we should keep passing the buck to the next generation.
I hope you will get involved in the City Budget process. Please review the budget documents on the city website. Please talk with your City Councilors. Please give us suggestions or priorities if you have them. Please attend Monday’s City Council meeting.
Have a wonderful 4th of July holiday weekend.
Regards,
Dave Flaherty Westfield City Councilor [email protected]
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
