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Well, apparently a snowflake didn’t like my comments about the Planning Board buffoons. Well, let’s see, you NIMBY, how much of a fight you’ll put up against the 600 student private school proposed for Root Rd. Oh wait, it’s not in your back yard so you don’t care. You thought an 80 dog kennel on a main road with a full plan for sound suppression and animal waste removal was an issue, which there was no legal right the Planning Board buffoons had of stopping, but a 600 student school on a residential road on a parcel that has a history with the Planning Board buffoons is fine? These Planning Board buffoons are the laughingstock of the area. I can’t tell you how many respected business people outside of Westfield I’ve spoken with who are now absolutely certain not to expand or invest in Westfield. Or they could just do whatever they want and ask the Planning Board buffoons for forgiveness rather than permission because then they’ll offer a slap on the wrist and let you go about your business.
It seems Councilor Allie has not let up on his pre-election push of spin. He took to social media recently to again complain that the city has a spending problem but when you go back to the record of last Spring’s budget process he proposed no significant cuts. So what, pray tell, does the mighty Wizard Allie propose be cut? He can’t answer that question because he doesn’t know. The Westfield News reached out to Councilor Allie and the following is his response: The Mayor’s budget as presented to the City Council in June, needed 4.1 million dollars in order to balance; and not require an increase in the property tax. Councilor Flaherty intended to go through the budget and propose reductions in spending in order to close the 4.1 million dollar gap. Should I have presented a similar list of a hundred pages of marginal reductions in order to close that gap? Some of us did not want to repeat the same process as in 2016 when the Finance committee spent numerous hours and held many meetings, proposing spending reductions that did not pass because we did not have the votes. Some of them were so frustrated they did not want to serve on Finance again. Thankfully, they remained and have done a lot of good work. It was time to truly Think Outside the Box. I was disappointed when Councilor Flaherty announced he would only keep proposing reductions if we had the votes to pass them. I would have stayed in session as long as it took, and supported any sensible savings to bring the budget into balance. Just like last year, we did not have the votes to pass more than a few reductions. Only the Mayor can initiate spending, including using Free Cash or Stabilization Funds to reduce the tax burden. At budget time, the Mayor had not indicated his willingness to use Free Cash. Since police and fire overtime was not fully funded, there was no money for police cars or snow removal in the budget; it was assumed Free Cash was being held onto for these or other unforeseen expenses. The Mayor used employee health benefit premium holidays, road construction money that was not going to be used in this construction season, and decided to use 1.5 million dollars in Free Cash to balance the budget. The Council could not reduce these funds, and would not reduce road construction funds in June. After some of us voted against the budget, we were told by other councilors that if we did not agree to use Stabilization money later in the year, we would be blamed for a tax increase. In June, the Council only cut 440,000 dollars, of which 250,000 dollars was simply a transfer of using CPA funds instead. I worked to inform the people and get them involved by sending out phone calls. City hall was overflowing with people voicing their concerns, and counter City Councilors comments we have heard many times, “If people are so concerned with property taxes, where are they?” I wish to thank all those who came out to the June budget hearing, and for their support of conservative candidates in the election. I truly believe it was the people putting pressure on their elected officials to find a way to live within their means, that resulted in a 1% tax increase. If I could inform the city for a few hundred dollars, why can’t government do it? If I have to send out a robocall at budget or tax time, then I will do it. Nobody complained about getting that call. Well, except for city councilors. In addition to recommending reductions, there are a number of things that could be done by budget time, including questions that should be asked by Finance, and be part of the discussion with the Mayor and department heads. How will under funded items, or items not in the budget be paid for? What are Mayor’s plans regarding the use of free cash, stabilization funds, use of premium holidays, managed reductions, and what is the Mayor’s goal for a tax rate? In addition, the City should consider an Open Checkbook system on the City website and encourage people to attend the public hearing, and listen to the residents and business owners.
