Date: 1/2/2013
I offer a number of corrections and supporting facts concerning your tax break article of Dec. 19, 2012. As mayor of West Springfield I submitted the fiscal year 2013 budget to the city council that lowered taxes to fiscal year 2011 levels. This was no small accomplishment considering I had been in office only a few months and despite many claims that it could not be done. I could have lowered taxes even more by tapping into reserve accounts but our chief financial officer strongly advised against it. I then came up with a plan to reduce taxes over a three-year period by modestly reducing spending and drawing down the overfunded health insurance trust fund. The purpose of these modest reductions were twofold. First, I calculated that the reductions in taxes should not be too large otherwise it could require a sudden tax increase in the following years. Second, it follows my principle of making modest changes every year so as not to cause instability in our municipal government. As of today West Springfield is the only city in Massachusetts that I know of which has lowered taxes this year. That was my campaign promise to the people of West Springfield and I am happy that we were able to accomplish this.