BRIAN P. SULLIVAN
WESTFIELD – The City Council voted Thursday to use more than $800,000 to pay the ice and snow removal account deficit before the end of the of the fiscal year on June 30.
State law allows cities and towns to deficit spend on snow and ice removal because of the unpredictability of New England winters, but those deficits have to be paid before the end of the fiscal year or they are added to the base of the following year’s budget, resulting in even higher tax rates.
“The city and mayor do not have to fully fund the snow and ice removal account under state law because Mother Nature does not tell us what she is doing from year to year,” At-large Councilor Brian Sullivan said Thursday. “It’s the only account we can deficit spend, some years that deficit is not that much.”
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik requested the council members to approve the transfer of those funds from the city’s health insurance account to cover $488,360 in the snow and ice account for payment to private contractors and $335,807 for supplies, primarily sand and salt.
Knapik said last week prior to the City Council meeting that the city had the health insurance funds available because of a surplus in the account and the fact that the city declared a premium holiday, meaning that neither the city nor municipal employees were required to pay a monthly premium.
The council had to vote on both of Knapik’s transfer requests, with a 10-2 vote to approve the $488,360 transfer and a vote of 9-3 on the $335,807 transfer.
At-large Councilors David Flaherty and Dan Allie voted against both transfers and were joined my Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell on the second vote.
“If we have a surplus in the health insurance account, shouldn’t that surplus go toward future health insurance obligations and not the snow and ice account which is consistently short of funds? ” Flaherty asked. “We know we could budget more (for the snow and ice account.)”
“I hope the mayor comes back to put this money in the OPEB (other post employment benefit) of health insurance accounts,” Flaherty said before the vote to approve the transfers.
O’Connell said that during her tenure on the City Council there has always be a significant snow and ice removal deficit.
“Over the past nine years we’ve always been over $800,000,” O’Connell said.
Allie said he opposed the transfer because “we’re taking $800,000 from health insurance for a reoccurring expense.”
Allie suggested that the city investigate purchasing insurance that would help fund the snow and ice budget shortfall.
“So we can have some sort of consistency,” he said.
Sullivan argued that the snow and ice removal deficit is addressed annually with whatever funding is available for the current budget.
“This year the city happens to have money in the health insurance budget, so the mayor is thinking outside the box. Sometimes we use free cash,” Sullivan said. “Year to year we don’t know what snow and ice removal will cost. This year it was all of the ice storms.”
“But we need to fix the budget and this year this is how we’re doing it,” Sullivan said
