Thank you to all who voted in the election.
Your Voice Matters, regardless of who you vote for. People need to be a check on government and business as usual. We need more candidates to run for office.
I am thankful to those who supported me, other fiscally conservative incumbents, and for Nick Morganelli’s return and newcomer Matt Emmershy. Congratulations to John Beltrandi and Mike Burns for winning seats on the Council.
I believe this election sent a loud and clear message that people want elected officials to listen to them, that the city must control spending, stop increasing property taxes beyond what people can afford, and get back to basics.
People rejected business as usual and extending the term of Mayor, by a 2 to 1 margin, and there is interest in organizing a Westfield Taxpayer’s Association to provide a forum to discuss important issues and ideas.
During the Mayor’s briefing that preceded last Thursday’s Council meeting, I asked Mayor Sullivan about the $200,000 reduction in road construction budget. The Mayor said he would have other monies available to use in the spring.
If these projects will not be done by year’s end, it does not make sense to tax people for a bigger budget. This was just one item as part of the Mayor’s Managed Budget reduction. Next week, on November 30th we will receive our certified Free Cash amount from the state. It is possible that figure could be over 3 million dollars.
While the reduction in the budget by 1.57 million dollars is a good step in the right direction toward lessening the tax burden, we would need another 2.2 million dollars to have a zero tax increase.
All of us need to put pressure on government and politicians, (the Council and the Mayor) to do the right thing, and get this budget down to a manageable level, in order to get tax relief.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and God Bless all.
City Councilor Dan Allie
