Westfield struggles to make it through

Date: 6/9/2009

By Katelyn Gendron

Reminder Assistant Editor



WESTFIELD -- Mayor Michael Boulanger's proposed $115.5 million fiscal year 2010 (FY10) budget will only finance the bare necessities come July 1.

Cosmic cuts to local aid compounded with dwindling resources will most likely lead to layoffs, slashed expenditures and increased fees to keep the city in the black.

"Balancing the [state's] budget on the backs of local municipalities is not the best way to do business but we're doing everything we can to survive," Boulanger said during an interview with Reminder Publications. "The problem is the state ties your hands with Proposition 2 1/2 and then takes away local aid and you're left hanging [without a safety net]."

Boulanger noted layoffs include 10 police officers, two dispatchers and 59 positions in the School Department, of which 29 are teachers.

"We try very, very hard to keep teaching positions [but] we have reached a point where we have to make tough decisions," Shirley Alvira, superintendent of Westfield Public Schools, said. "We are still looking for alternatives because in reality we really need the teachers but we don't have anymore alternatives."

The School Department's FY10 budget includes significant cuts but will still cost the city approximately $51.4 million.

"The City Hall departments have already been decimated [financially] and there's nothing left to cut," Ward One City Councilor Christopher Keefe, also a member of the Finance Committee, said. "It's time to look at the other departments [that can endure cuts]."

He noted that the mayor has slashed departments' funding for supplies, travel, equipment, capital improvements and part-time hourly employees.

The Auditor's Office will only have $500 for supplies, down from $2,084 in FY09; the Building, Law and Police departments will lose their funding for part-time hourly employees; and the Fire Department's $133,000 for overtime has been cut. Employees will receive raises, however, despite cuts to resources.

Keefe said the $400,000 deficit for sewage and wastewater treatment also presents a challenge for the city.

David Billips, superintendent of Water Resources, explained that sharp increases in energy rates and chemical costs created the deficit.

He added that the department has proposed a one-time increase of 18.5 percent per household to cover expenses. Billips said each homeowner's bill will increase by $60 from $262 to $322 per year.

"I can't imagine a budget being more challenging [than FY10] because of the uncertainty of local aid [figures] and the [city's inability] to achieve any sort of concessions to help [our own cause]," Boulanger said.

The Finance Committee will conduct meetings with department heads throughout the month before presenting a trimmed budget to the City Council for discussion on June 25 at 6 p.m.

A special City Council meeting to ratify the FY10 budget has been set for June 29 at 5:30 p.m.