On Thursday night, the City Council approved the Mayor’s proposed FY18 Budget. Despite the huge public turnout at Wednesday’s Public Hearing, and hearing from dozens of speakers who were asking City Councilors to do what it takes to avoid a massive tax increases, to reduce the spending increases in the budget, and to run the city like many of us try to run our homes and businesses, the City Council failed to find enough votes to dramatically change the budget. Almost every motion for cuts failed 5-8, or 6-7 (there are 13 councilors voting).
As approved, the budget is an increase of about $3.2 million over the current years’ budget, and even when including the new meals taxes, the Marijuana fees, the extra money from the Gas & Electric, healthy New Growth, and a withdrawal from the City’s Free Cash account, the budget is calling for a massive tax increase of about 5.25-5.4% right now (it was 6%, but there were a few budget cuts).
This is completely unacceptable to taxpayers – particularly seniors on fixed incomes and business owners who are already paying one of the highest tax rates in the state.
There are some who believe we should drain more from the City’s savings accounts to help reduce the tax increase, and there are some who are trying to justify their vote to approve the massive tax and spend increases by saying “we’ll use Free Cash or Stabilization later in the year to help reduce taxes”. That’s a diversionary tactic. They voted for this budget as it is – with a massive tax and spending increases. It is what it is. This budget actually has estimated Free Cash and Stabilization presented in it. It calls for $450,000 from Free Cash and ZERO from Stabilization. If the Mayor and thefinancial team in the city thought it was a good idea to use savings, they could have easily included it in the budget. If councilors wanted to do it, they could have easily petitioned the Mayor over the last few weeks. They didn’t, and I’m sure they didn’t because they know the financial hawks on the City Council would have jumped all over a budget that once again needed to cover recurring growing operating costs with one-time revenues.
I’ll be opposed to draining savings. The City has been living beyond its means for many years in a row. Balancing the budget has repeatedly been accomplished by using one-time money such as grants, bond premiums (like a cash back car deal), and withdrawals from savings. Our savings accounts currently only have about two-and-a-half to three-weeks worth of money in them. That’s just not enough to cover swings in income, or the long-term debts and obligations. One bad winter, or one natural disaster or catastrophic event could easily eat up half or more of that money. As mentioned in prior articles, we’re also quickly approaching the Levy Ceiling – which is the maximum we can change in Property Taxes (equivalent to a 25 per thousand flat tax rate). We’re going to need money in savings to pay for critical services when we hit that ceiling and can’t raise taxes. Even Mr. Dondley , who has opposing viewpoints from me on just about everything to do with finances, finally agrees that we are going to hit the Levy Ceiling. On Wednesday he touted his solution – advice he received from “experts” – which is to stash money away in savings to be better prepared when we hit the ceiling. Well, you can’t do that by repeatedly living beyond your means, and draining savings to cover operating costs. It just doesn’t make sense.
What we need to do is reform government, reprioritize spending, and flip the budget from one driven by department heads and labor unions, to one that is top-down based on reasonable income, prioritized spending, planning for long-term debts and obligations, and taking into account the needs and wants of the taxpayers, residents, and business owners. We need to be able to tell department heads “this is your budget, you figure out how best to make it work to deliver the services that are expected”. Everyone who works in a business or owns a business has to do this. Why should government be any different? I just talked to a business owner today who said the same thing. If business is off, and revenue is down, he cuts back on staff by reducing hours, expects everyone else to step-up and contribute a little more effort, sells assets that he doesn’t need, or changes things in his operations to help reduce overhead and operating costs. It’s common sense. We have to stop making the taxpayers foot the bill for the wants of the department heads and the expectations of the labor unions. Imagine that business owner above just saying “I’ll raise my prices by 6%”. I don’t think so. He’s in a very competitive space – as are most business owners.
We have to find ways to operate more efficiently – measured in dollars, and not to accept that automatic pay and benefit increases are an entitlement. This isn’t easy, and nobody, me included, wants to make suggestions for cuts in budgets for schools, police, fire, DPW, Information Technology, or other city operating departments. But, that’s what needs to be done. We have to find ways to work more efficiently and within the constraints of our budget. This may mean very painful changes in the city for a while. But, there’s no way around it. If we crash into that Levy Ceiling, and can’t meet our obligations, we could be looking at the same scenarios faced by Springfield, Holyoke, and Pittsfield. These may include: the need for a financial control board, forced renegotiation of labor agreements, brown-outs of expected services, adjustments to benefit plans, bad first impressions from potential homeowners and the business community, the highest taxes in the state, and on and on. It isn’t a pretty picture.
Mr. Dondley actually said to me the other night: “that will make you happy”. That’s one of the most insulting things he could ever say. That won’t make me happy at all. My family has lived here a long time. We love Westfield. We want this to be our place to live, work, play, and own a business – and I hope all of you want that as well.
Thank you to everyone who attended the Public Hearing, who made phone calls, and who wrote emails to the Mayor and City Councilors about this year’s budget. Please stay involved. Please track which City Councilors are best representing you and your concerns. This is an election year. There are new candidates running who may be worth your consideration. One or two changes may flip those 6-7 votes the other way to 7-6, and that could make all the difference. Remember, every vote counts. The last election was decided by three votes. Please write “VOTE!!!” on your calendars for November 7th. If you’d like a fancy “Vote” sticker, please email me and I’ll mail you one.
Regards,
Dave Flaherty
Westfield City Councilor
[email protected]
