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Date: 12/16/2020
WESTFIELD – Across three special meetings on Dec. 10, the Westfield City Council discussed two supplementary budgets and hosted a public hearing over the local tax levy before approving it.
To start the public hearing over the tax shift for fiscal year 2021 (FY21), Mike Roundy with the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce said that he was against a higher tax shift.
“As the shift stands, it puts an uneven burden of the tax levy on the businesses. The commercial industrial properties in Westfield constitute about 17 percent of the value of property, but the taxpayers that own those properties pay about 29 percent of the taxes. We feel a lower tax shift helps make and keep Westfield more competitive for attracting and keeping businesses in the city,” he said.
After Roundy presented the chamber’s point of view, City Auditor Robin Johnson discussed some of the ways the city raised property values through new growth.
“We raised money from doing cyclicals, a lot of them were drive bys because of COVID, we had a lot of central air, finished basements, and sidings to raise some of the values. The market has been crazy and a seller’s market. We had 28 new houses built,” she said.
After the public hearing, Councilor Dave Flaherty recommended a 1.66 percent tax shift.
“I think shifting that much on business is not a good idea, given how much businesses are struggling this year so I would make a motion to amend it to 1.66 [percent]. The residential rate would go from $19.25 to $18.89, commercial would go from 37.10 to 36.53, both are going in the right direction and both will give us more room on the levy capacity,” he said.
Councilor Nick Morganelli said that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he wanted to keep the shift the same for FY21.
“In a COVID environment, this is a very tough decision. I would normally be pro-business because I believe they keep the tax rate lower anyway. Because of COVID, everyone is suffering, not only businesses but residents as well, a lot of people have lost their jobs. I’m just inclined to keep it as it was last year,” he said.
Ultimately, the council voted to keep the tax shift the same as the previous year, at 1.66 percent.
The first supplemental budget was a request for $4.5 million with $1 million going to Westfield High School and Westfield Technical Academy for science labs and shops and other projects, including repairs to the high school’s swimming pool, $100,000 went to the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) fund, and $3.5 million to a city stabilization fund account.
Councilor Ralph Figy explained that the city was able to seek both supplementary budgets because of the official budget passed by the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives.
“The budget we passed had a lot of hurt in it. The reduction we took back in May was negated and allowed us to have a surplus of unbudgeted funds that we did not know we had. It’s my understanding that if we don’t appropriate the funds, then we won’t have access to them for projects, it might end up in free cash the following year,” he said.
During the discussion, Councilor Dave Flaherty said he was against using the money on short notice.
“I think we need to reserve this money. I’m not that excited about spending $1 million on a wish list item that we can do later in the year when we have good justification, and we can have public meetings with a chance to bat these things around. Rushing to spend $4.5 million on two days’ notice I don’t think it is fair to the taxpayers,” he said.
With the current high school to remain as is for at least the next decade, Council President Brent Bean said it was necessary to upgrade the labs now.
“In my opinion $1 million isn’t going to do a lot for those labs, hopefully it’ll bring us out of getting in trouble with certification. If we were looking at a new high school in the next two or three years, I’d hold off, but we aren’t going to see a renovation or a new high school for 10 plus years,” he said.
Because the budget request was for immediate consideration, one no vote denied the motion.
For the second supplementary budget, the council quickly approved an amended motion for $4.3 million for the city’s stabilization account, which was down from the proposed $5 million.
The Westfield City Council next meets on Dec. 17.