Mayor delivers conservative budget to Council
Date: 6/9/2010
June 9, 2010.By Katelyn Gendron
Reminder Assistant Editor
WESTFIELD -- Mayor Daniel Knapik hadn't even presented the $117.2 million fiscal year 2011 (FY11) budget to the City Council on June 3 and already certain members of the legislative body were concerned about their ability to complete budget hearings and revisions by the June 30 deadline.
Councilor at-large David Flaherty spearheaded a motion requesting the mayor be prepared to submit a continuing appropriation budget in the event the council doesn't pass the budget by the end of this fiscal year. The motion sparked a lengthy debate among councilors urging others not to hit the panic button just yet.
"I don't see a need at this point to require the mayor to prepare an emergency budget at this point. We can do this. We've done [received budget's late and passed them] in the past and we'll do it again," City Councilor Richard Onofrey Jr., chair of the Finance Committee, said.
Flaherty replied, "I want to make sure that everyone that is new here [to the council] has the opportunity to review [and] be involved in this process and do our due diligence for the people who elected us."
The motion ultimately failed and Knapik later presented his FY11 budget while noting the document was prepared with extreme fiscal conservatism. The budget is a 1.52 percent increase over FY10.
Knapik explained to the council that he was forced to use $1.5 million in free cash to fill in deficits left by declining state aid and local revenue receipts. State aid totaled $41.3 million while profits from excise tax was down approximately $1 million, he noted.
"I approached this budget with the realities of today," Knapik said. "Government services one simple purpose: public service and not hanging onto jobs."
He explained he's still in negotiations with most of the unions and has been looking for their help to meet the challenges of balancing the budget.
"We offered every bargaining unit in this city with a fair package," Knapik said, adding that he asked for employees to take three furlough days each, saving between $200,000 and $400,000.
"There are some unions that have not embraced this idea," he said. "I've shown them a clear pathway to save jobs. I don't think it's a lot to ask to take a few dollars off your paycheck to help the mayor, City Council and taxpayers get through this difficult economic climate.
"A couple of unions wanted 3 to 5 percent raises. They were told that wasn't going to happen," he continued. "If somebody thinks I'm sitting on a pile of money it isn't happening. Come on in and I'll show you the books.
"We're so lean tonight that I'm typing out my own cover letters to you and there's nobody here to answer the phones in the afternoon," Knapik told the Council.
He explained he's looking for other cost-cutting measures and revenue streams such as privatized trash pickup for a fee and the new power plant that will sell its generated electricity, respectively.
Departments received level-funded or decreased budgets for FY11 including a 1.98 percent cut to the school department and a 12 percent reduction to the assessors.
Onofrey noted the Finance Committee would be conducting meetings with department heads throughout the next few weeks in order to review each line item of the budget.
The FY11 budget must be passed by the end of FY10, June 30.
