Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan (WNG file photo)
WESTFIELD –Mayor Brian P. Sullivan presented transfers of $100,000 each into Stabilization and Other Post Employees Benefits (OPEB), along with a sizable reduction in the current budget during his briefing to the City Council on Thursday, before the regular City Council meeting.
Sullivan said one-third of the way into the fiscal year, the city has enough in its health trust to offer both a Health Benefit Holiday of half a month for employees, and to transfer the city’s budgeted portion into other accounts. The goal is to keep $10 million, or three months operating in the Trust, which they are currently above.
He said the city, which is self-insured, pays $1.2 million per month into the Health Trust for its share. The Health Benefit Holiday was part of the agreement during employee negotiations, when the city/employee split was lowered to 77/23, which according to the Mayor is the first time the city’s share went below 80%. A transfer into OPEB during any benefit holiday was also part of the agreement.
Sullivan said the Health Benefit Holiday is the result of the health of the trust and the health of employees. He said they have not yet had to use the trust this year.
“The Health holiday is paying back employees for being healthy. A lot of employers are doing that,” Sullivan said. He said in the half month holiday, $600,000 is saved in the budget, and employees don’t have to pay in for half a month. Nothing is coming out of the health trust, he said. Sullivan said there will be another full month ($1.2 million) Health benefit holiday in the spring, also.
Speaking about the OPEB account, Sullivan said the city put in $50,000 in 2011 to start the account, and none since. He will be transferring $100,000 of the savings into the account at this time, and another $600,000 from the full-month holiday in the spring.
Sullivan said the city has also managed an appropriations reduction of $1,571,910 in the current FY18 budget. “One-third of the way into the fiscal year, I’ve seen areas I can manage,” he said.
$100,000 will be coming from the school district budget, which was intended to send a student out of district that didn’t go. The Department of Public Works was also willing to come to the table, Sullivan said. $300,000 will come out of the construction budget, for projects that aren’t ready. “I’m not using the word cut, but reduce,” he said. There was also $73,000 budgeted for a highway vehicle that he said DPW director David Billips “would like, but we can do without it,” the mayor said.
An added dispatcher for the call center, budgeted for $34,000 is also part of the $1.5 million reduction. He said the second dispatcher was going to be added so the call center could go regional, but “we’re not there yet.” He said the current dispatcher, referring to Lauren Mielke, the communications administrator is new. ‘We are going regional. She’ll take us there,” he said.
“It’s because of the fact that I made our budget heads pay attention,” Sullivan said about the reductions. He said what the city used to do was put the money in Free Cash at the end of the year, but that meant that residents were being taxed for unspent funds.
The bulk of the money, $1 million ($400,000 from the half-month October health benefit holiday, and the other $600,000 from the full-month holiday in March) that had previously been budgeted for health benefits.
At-large City Councilor David Flaherty
At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty said he didn’t like the plan. He said during a conversation about a comment that he had made publicly a few weeks ago, he was told that health care savings would not be used to reduce the tax burden.
“Obviously when (we) start to manage what we’re doing, I looked at it over a month ago and changed my mind,” Sullivan said.
Flaherty said the Health Trustees previously stated that all the money saved should go into the OPEB account. Sullivan responded that he wants to use $400,000 from the holiday in October to reduce the budget, and put $200,000 each in OPEB and stabilization. He said the city will be doing it again in March. “By the end of the year, we will have (over) $700,000 in OPEB. We only ever had $50,000 in OPEB,” the mayor said. Later he said the city plans to make OPEB a line item in the future.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul, Sr.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul, Sr., who chairs the Finance Committee said he wanted to recognize that when the committee went over the budgets “line by line,” the Mayor continually said that he wanted to make it more efficient, as did the department heads.
“This is the return we get from the type of leadership (we have) – efficiency and value,” Paul said. “For us to complain is ridiculous,” he added.
“We’re going to continue what we’re doing, it’s working,” Sullivan said, thanking Paul for his comments.
After the Mayor finished his briefing and the meeting began, Paul asked for immediate consideration of the Mayor’s motions to transfer the funding. Flaherty opposed it. All councilors must be in agreement for immediate consideration of an item. Paul then referred the Mayor’s budget items to the Finance sub-committee.
