WESTFIELD – Members of the City Council voted last night to make one cut of $61,002 to the proposed $129,561,232 2013 municipal budget after reviewing all 65 department, board and commission line items.
The Finance Committee, which performed that same function Monday night, came into the Committee as a Whole session last night without any recommendations to modify the budget.
Ward 2 Councilor James E. Brown Jr., made the motion to cut the $61,002 from the line item for full-time salary at the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant and sewer division, money that would have funded a new position of pretreatment coordinator. Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell provided the second for that motion.
“There’s no way any department should be adding people,” Brown said. “That department is still not under control. We’re cutting the police, fire and public works budgets. There is no way I’ll support a new hire.”
At-large Councilor Brian Sullivan asked if Water Resource Superintendent Dave Billips had explained the need for a new position during his interview with the Finance Committee.
“Is this something to alleviate other problems?” Sullivan, who along with At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean II voted against Brown’s motion, asked.
Ward 6 Councilor Christopher Crean, a member of the Finance Committee said that Billips “didn’t struggle for this position.”
The cut was approved by a 10-2 vote, but because the wastewater treatment budget is an enterprise, or special revenue account, the money cut from the line item just goes into that division’s reserve account.
The other 64 line items were not amended, a fact that may change tonight, according to Finance Chairman Richard E. Onofrey Jr., the Ward 5 councilor.
Following the meeting, Onofrey received additional information from City Auditor Deborah Strycharz pertaining to budgets of both major divisions of the Water Resource Department.
Onofrey said that state law limits the Water Department and Wastewater Treatment budget based on the previous year’s revenue.
“State law says those budgets can’t exceed what the prior year’s revenue was,” Onofrey said. “That number is not usually known until the reserve accounts are certified by the state Department of Revenue, which usually occurs in November. So he could submit a budget over that amount, then we cut it in November, then he comes back to us in January or February, which happens every year, for a transfer from his reserve accounts to his operating accounts.”
Onofrey said the Wastewater Treatment account is $177,828 over the revenue of the 2012 fiscal year, according to Strycharz’s calculations, which means the council could cut another $56,826 from that budget, and that the Water Department account is $256,814 higher that the projected 2012 fiscal year revenue.
“I want to talk to Dave (Billips) today so we don’t blindside him and to ask him where we can make the cuts,” Onofrey said. “I’d like to see a cleaner process, to have the number we approve as close to right as we can make it.”
The City Council will vote on the $115 million municipal budget, then each of the six enterprise and special revolving accounts, with total another $14 million. The council will also vote on several budget amendments Mayor Daniel M. Knapik is requesting, including increasing the Westfield Police Department’s full-time hourly account by $105,300 to reflect the fact that three new officers have been appointed. Knapik is also seeking council approval to add $100,000 to the new Emergency Medical Dispatch Department’s overtime account, a need identified during the Finance Committee’s interviews with police and fire officials.
