WESTFIELD — Faced with a $179 million proposed budget, which would have been a 4.8% increase in spending from the current year, the Westfield City Council made $1.174 million in cuts on June 13, including half of Mayor Michael McCabe’s proposed payment into a fund to cover future retiree benefit payments.
The council’s decision may have been influenced by a letter read by Councilor Nicholas Morganelli Jr., written by former Councilor David Flaherty, saying it would be shortsighted to eliminate the OPEB — other post-employment benefits — contribution entirely.
“It’s another case of current taxpayers deferring liabilities to future taxpayers,” Flaherty wrote. “I’m hoping the council will do the right thing — I’m sure most older citizens would never consider consuming something today and passing [the cost] onto their kids or grandkids.”
Another speech during the budget public hearing, however, seemed to set the tone for the evening’s budget cuts. Mark Cartagena said he was a 35-year resident of Westfield whose son and daughter grew up in the city and would like to return, but can’t find an affordable home. He said this isn’t the time to increase property taxes.
“We’re losing revenue, and losing people from this town,” Cartagena said. “People are not buying homes, they’re not even building homes in this town. … You work for us, we don’t work for you. You need to be thinking about the citizens.”
Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane, who chairs the council’s Finance Committee, said during public hearings on the budget, the committee had already agreed to a cut of $40,000 for medical testing in the Fire and Ambulance departments. Another member of the Finance Committee, Councilor Richard Sullivan, proposed adding a cut to the Police Department medical and testing services account, in the amount of $60,000. Sullivan then moved a cut of $60,000 to DPW vehicles, which will mean buying one vehicle instead of two. Both of Sullivan’s cuts passed by wide margins.
Sullivan then proposed a reduction of $300,000 in the Engineering Department’s construction budget. He said this wasn’t related to any particular projects, just part of a “magic” number that Councilor Ralph Figy, who was not present at the meeting, had proposed to arrive at $1 million in cuts. The councilors supported this cut unanimously.
Councilors also voted to cut $250,000 from the budget’s medical insurance line item. Sullivan said he felt confident proposing this cut, to a $15 million account, because there are 20 unfilled positions in the Department of Public Works, so health insurance spending should be less than projected, at least in the short term.
Matthews-Kane said she thought $250,000 is a better number than the $500,000 cut that was originally proposed by Figy. She said the director of personnel is concerned about the cut, calling it “a roll of the dice. It we cut it, she will probably need it back. This [budgeted amount] is not based on the number of employees, but on the true cost historically.” The cut passed with Morganelli voting “no.”
Sullivan’s proposal to cut the city’s contribution to OPEB in half found support among several councilors. Westfield made a $500,000 payment in FY24 and McCabe had proposed another $500,000 in FY25.
Councilor Brent Bean said he has traditionally voted “no” on adding funds to OPEB.
“For one thing, $250,000 is not going to do anything. I do get a little concerned that we’re throwing $250,000 in there. … The reality is the state is going to have to bail us out. I don’t know why we’re doing it,” Bean said.
“For many, many years I’ve been saying exactly what you just said. The state is going to have to come in,” said Councilor Cindy Harris, adding that she had worked closely with Figy on all the cuts that were proposed. The motion passed with Councilor Dan Allie, Matthews-Kane and Morganelli voting no.
Councilor William Onyski then proposed a cut of $50,000 for solar-powered compacting trash barrels, which he said sounded like a great idea but could be funded by grants.
After some discussion, the councilors also agreed to Councilor Kristen Mello’s proposed cut to the public works director salary line. She initially asked to cut the entire $141,820 salary, as the position has been vacant for years — with Deputy Director Francis Cain serving as interim director — but was convinced to leave about half the salary, $70,914, in place so that there is money for salaries if the DPW is reorganized and a director is hired later in the year.
Mello also asked to cut $98,000 in other public works salaries, representing two months’ salaries for half of the 20 vacant positions, which are largely laborer jobs. An Onyski motion to cut that cut in half, to about $49,000, succeeded.
Councilors rejected a Morganelli proposal to cut $250,000 from the School Department. Under state law, the council can cut the school budget, but can’t specify line items. It would have been up to the School Committee to determine where the cuts would be made.
After the meeting, Matthews-Kane said she appreciated the work the mayor and his staff put into creating the budget. She said she felt the Finance Committee review process went well, as did the budget hearing and vote on June 13.
“I’d like to thank my fellow councilors for their thoughtful suggestions for cuts and our productive debates on how the city spends its money. Collaboratively, we combed through the budget to find ways to keep dollars in the taxpayers’ pockets,” she said.
