WESTFIELD – The City Council approved a $40,278.36 free cash appropriation to initiate a five-year lease-to-own contract for two new Department of Public Works mowers last night.
The appropriation vote to approve the first year of that five-year contract also resulted in a discussion of the free cash process and how it is used as a key element of municipal finance, with members of the Finance Committee giving new councilors a primer on how that account is used and how those funds become available.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert Paul, Sr. asked why the mower contract was being initiated with free cash and not in the DPW budget as a capital expenditure line item. Paul said that if the city knew it had uncommitted funding from the previous fiscal year, why was that money not used in the current budget to lower the tax increase from the 3 ½ percent imposed on taxpayers this fiscal year.
“We had a 3 ½ percent tax increase,” Paul said. “So now we’re spending outside the budget instead of giving money back to the taxpayers.”
Ward 6 Councilor Christopher Crean, a member of the Finance Committee, said that the funding was cut from the current budget, with an agreement between Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and the City Council to restore funding from the free cash account.
Ward 1 Councilor Christopher Keefe, chairman of the Finance Committee, said that while the city knew unencumbered funds from FY 2013 were “in the bank” that money is not available during the budget process in June.
“We know it’s there, but we can’t use it until the state Department of Revenue (DOR) certifies that there are no obligations for that money from the previous fiscal year,” Keefe said. “The DOR certification process usually takes six months, so those funds are usually only available for the last six months of the fiscal year.”
Keefe said the mayor and City Council, which must approve appropriations, typically use those funds for non-recurring items, such as capital purchases, infrastructure improvements and special projects.
Crean said the mowers will be included as a DPW line item over the last four years of the lease to own contract.
“Next year it will be in that budget and will not come from free cash,” Crean said.
Keefe and Crean also defended the five-year cost of $192,000 to acquire the new equipment.
“These large mowers are replacing two aged pieces of equipment, “Crean said. “The mowers being replaced are from 1994 and a 1998. These are not mowers you can buy at the local hardware store that last five years; the life cycle of this equipment is between 15 and 20 years.”
Keefe said the equipment has a mower deck and two wing mowers that can be adjusted to steep slopes.
“These are the type of mowers you see on the (Massachusetts) Turnpike parked on steep slopes,” Keefe said. “They are top-of-the-line, fantastic equipment that will serve the city for 20 years.
