Mayor Brian P. Sullivan presents his FY19 budget at a Special City Council meeting on Thursday. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – Mayor Brian P. Sullivan formally presented his fiscal year 2019 budget at a Special City Council meeting on Thursday, which Councilors Brent B. Bean, II, Matt Emmershy and William Onyski were unable to attend. The FY19 operating budget with a bottom line of $127,851,739, contains a 2.5% increase over FY18.
Sullivan said Finance sub-committee meetings with department heads have been scheduled at which the budget would be reviewed in detail, but said he would take questions at the meeting.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul, Sr. asked whether the increase of 2.5% in the budget was based on the original FY18 budget, or after the budget was reduced by $1.5 million in November. Checking with City Auditor Mary Daley who was sitting behind him, Sullivan said the FY19 increase of 2.5% was based on the reduced budget, after the cut.
Sullivan thanked his staff for their work on the budget, beginning with Daley and the Auditing Department. “Mary Daley has been here every day for the last three months, including weekends. Her department gets it done for us,” he said, adding that there have been four or five different cuts to the budget since the process began. “We’ve been looking at this thing hard.”
The Mayor also thanked the department heads for bringing in, for the most part, balanced budgets with no increases. “Everybody came to the table the best they could. Every year, we’re doing more with less.” He also thanked his executive assistant Leanne Cloutier and his office staff for keeping up with all the changes.
“Last but not least, Sonia (Brockney). She has to live with me when I get home all stressed out,” Sullivan added on a personal note.
Sullivan said the budget had not changed a lot from last year, and is “a budget of need.” “We want good schools, roads fixed, water fixed, a good Fire Department and a good Police Department. It’s hard to know where to cut,” Sullivan said. He said the budget being presented is for July 1, but “it’s not finished at that point. We need to manage the budget.”
He said some numbers are based on estimates that aren’t in yet from the state. He also said the expense side of the budget has gone down one percentage point.
Talking about the schools, which have an overall increase in the budget of 1.8 percent, the Mayor said it’s a “tough year” for them, citing new programs, the closing of Russell School, and redistricting challenges.
Sullivan noted that the district’s chapter 70 money will be reduced due to 71 students who have enrolled at the new Hampden Charter School of Science in West Springfield, which Ward 2 Councilor Ralph J. Figy also said has had a big impact.
“Whether you’re for or against charter schools isn’t the problem; it’s how they’re funded. Westfield has 71 students going to charter schools. Chapter 70 money is given to us, and then they take it away from us,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan also pointed to an increase in special education program costs, which he said will save much more in the long run by keeping students in-house. “The Superintendent went through his process. The School Committee cut $200,000, then another $50,000 at the Mayor’s request,” Sullivan said.
Turning to the Highway and Engineering budgets, Sullivan said the councilors would see a capital outlay for some vehicles budgeted to help the departments do more in-house. “It’s very difficult to get the people. Dave (Billips, DPW Director) is working hard to attract the people,” he said.
Sullivan said in the Refuse Department, the vehicle used for bulk pickup is no longer in use. “We haven’t been doing the bulk pickup. Right now, we’re looking to get it back in the new fiscal year,” he said, adding that he’s gotten a lot of calls about bulk pickup from residents.
Sullivan said the Engineering Department has almost $500,000 with construction work on Western Avenue, not counting $1.8 million in chapter 90 money. He said a traffic light at Union and Springdale is also in the Engineering budget. “We’re all doing what we can,” he said.
Two other departments highlighted by the Mayor were Internet Technology and Dispatch. He said IT has budgeted less than last year, when $100,000 was cut by the City Council the night of the budget vote. IT Manager Lenore Bernashe was forced to come before the Council again in February, and ask for a partial restoration in order to pay software licenses coming due.
“Lenore has worked very hard. They have less bodies doing more work, and doing it differently. I give her a lot of credit,” Sullivan said.
Talking about Dispatch, Sullivan said the city is closer now to dispatching with other cities and towns. “Cell phone calls that used to go through Northampton, are now going directly to Westfield,” he said.
At-large Councilor Dan Allie asked if the protocol of sending out fire trucks with ambulances could be reviewed. Sullivan said it sounded like Allie was talking about procedure. “You don’t know until you get to the site. The response of the vehicles is what’s important,” Sullivan said.
Paul asked if there was a process to suggest more spending, specifically increasing the capacity of the DPW to do the work themselves. “I’m hoping as you go through this, you’ll see less and less contracts,” Sullivan said referring to the budget. “That’s a conversation I’m willing to have,” he added.
Paul suggested using Bond money the city has and investing it into the DPW Department.
“There are looming issues with different operators that would have to be taken care of first,” said City Council president John J. Beltrandi, III. Mayor Sullivan asked Paul to go through the Council president for the discussion.
Other budget issues raised by the Councilors included police vehicles, which At-large Councilor Dave Flaherty said “are always an issue.” Sullivan said there are three police vehicles in the budget, cut from a request by the department for six; although he said he thought he could find funding for another two.
Flaherty also pointed to lower revenue in the Water Department of $935,000 less than last year. “That’s a big problem,” he said, adding that if the Council approves the filtration systems, it would add another $1 million to that budget.
Sullivan responded that two sets of water rate increases are not included in the budget. “We can’t count in the budget money before it’s raised,” he said. Beltrandi said he was sure that Billips would address that concern in the Finance sub-committee meetings.
“I do want to bring up $20,000 for OPEB (Other Post-Employee Benefits). We’ve added almost $800,000 into OPEB. Now the financial world wants to see a number in the budget,” Sullivan said.
“We need $20 million, not $20,000,” responded Flaherty.
Ward 3 Councilor Andrew K. Surprise asked whether the Mayor is expecting to see savings with the retirement of two chiefs. Both Police Chief John A. Camerota and Fire Chief Mary Regan have announced their plans to retire in the next year.
“Savings, but also severance; new people coming in won’t be at the same level. If you know there’s a retirement happening in December, you have to budget for 12-months of salary. That’s state law,” Mayor Sullivan responded.
At-large Councilor Nicholas J. Morganelli, Jr. said when he took office, he took the time to meet with the departments. He said the schools wanted an additional resource officer for the middle schools, but he didn’t see one in the budget. “Right now they have an officer split between schools. They would like to have one at each,” Morganelli said.
Sullivan said the position would be in the Police Department budget, but there is no increase. Westfield Public School District CFO Ronald R. Rix said there is one officer for both schools.
“The School Department is doing a good job,” Sullivan said, including fixing doors and security features in the buildings, working with CopSync software, and on drills. “We may not see an increase in men or women,” he added.
“In a perfect world, there would be a school resource officer in each school. This is not a perfect world. They have set the bar across the country. No one is more prepared,” School Committee liaison Figy said.
“I want to reassure the people that even though we may not have a resource officer in every school, behind the scenes the Police Department and the School Department do many things to protect our children,” added At-large Councilor Cindy C. Harris.
Following a few more questions, the budget was referred to the Finance sub-committee. Chair Dan Allie said the schedule has been set, with meetings on June 5, 6, 11 and 12 from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m., and on June 13 from 5:15 to 7:40 p.m. in rooms that will be posted on the city website at www.cityofwestfield.org.
