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I have had it with these city councilors using scare tactics with the citizens. If it’s not misinformation about the water situation it’s misinformation about taxes. Dave Flaherty should be ashamed to post on Facebook of a possible 7-9% property tax increase when he knows full well that never will or could happen. Leading up to last fall’s election he was claiming more than 5% and guess what? That never happened. Let me be up front…I like Dave and have voted for him but that is unacceptable. Dave – you have people in Westfield who think what they read on social media is gospel and you’re just praying on them. Shame on you! We reached out to Councilor Flaherty and here is his response: The numbers are as close to accurate as I can do right now. I specifically gave a range of realistic numbers for a reason. I also said the numbers could change by a couple of million dollars, and that that would reduce the tax increase range to 4.6% – 6.4%. Many people appreciate my efforts and accuracy. The purpose of the post was to get the public engaged in the process early, and to hopefully make changes before it’s too late. Last year’s numbers that I predicted in June (when the budget was approved) were accurate to the dollar. I’m sure by the end of June I’ll be able to do that again. The only reasons we didn’t have that 6% tax increase was because the city used lots of money from savings, the mayor took money out of health insurance premiums to give a tax reduction, and we had significant mid-year ONE-TIME budget cuts – including massive cuts to the road construction account. The changes were made going into the election because the mayor and councilors knew the public was furious over the tax increase that was proposed in the budget that most of the council voted for. Regards, Dave
