WESTFIELD – At-large City Councilors James R. Adams and David A. Flaherty sat across the table from each other last night during the Legislative & Ordinance Committee discussion of a Special Tax Assessment (STA) to retain a city manufacturing firm, and their approach to assessing the benefits and liabilities of the proposed package, which comes before the entire council tomorrow night, was much wider than the table separating them.
Mayor Daniel m. Knapik and City Advancement Officer Joe Mitchell have presented a STA for the Prolamina, formerly known as Jen Coat, plant on North Elm Street to expand in Westfield and retain 268 jobs with an annual payroll of about $17 million.
Prolamina is preparing to invest $7 million to improve its physical plant and to upgrade manufacturing equipment. The STA provides the company with an immediate tax reduction of $168,500 in the first year of the five-year STA term. The total tax discount is about $600,000.
Adams said the option of supporting the STA, as opposed to those jobs going to other Prolamina plants in Wisconsin and Canada is “a no brainer” in his opinion.
“If we lost this company and people can’t pay their mortgages, we’ve lost a lot more than $168,500 in tax revenue,” Adams said. “What if they can get cheaper (electrical) power in Canada, so they decide to close (the two Westfield facilities)? Do you want to lose them?”
Flaherty said that the city cannot afford to lose the tax revenue.
“We’re losing money on this deal,” Flaherty said. “The city needs that $168,500 of revenue.”
Flaherty suggested that Prolamina absorb the cost of the proposed STA.
“You can make up this tax cut by slowing down salary increases (to Prolamina employees),” Flaherty said. “There is no reason the city should have to lose revenue. You can absorb this $168,500 better than we can.”
At-large Councilor Brian Sullivan that he has recently talked with city residents who lost jobs at Savage Arms and Cenveo (formerly Old Colony Envelope) and have no immediate prospect of finding new employment.
“I’m not doing my job if I’m not looking down the road,” Sullivan said. “What I’m not willing to risk is that (Prolamina) leaves the city.”
