Politics & Government

Council Passes Budget After Partisan Debate

Budget, including crossing guard reduction, passes 7-1.

The Town Council passed the 2010 municipal budget Tuesday evening amid partisan rancor.

The budget, which is $550,000 lower than last year's budget, passed with little public comment during the hearing. Councilman Dave Haas, the Council's sole Democrat, case the only no vote on the budget, citing his traditional concern regarding pensions.

The budget, which contains a tax increase, includes a decrease in the amount of money appropriated for salaries and operating expenses. Councilman Mark Ciarrocca, the finance committee chairman, noted that the budget cuts were the result of declining non tax revenues, including construction permit fees.

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The sparsely attended meeting featured only one member of the public - community advocate Jim Baker - addressing the Council during the public hearing on the budget. Baker, active in the local Democratic Party, cited several issues which mimicked the platform of 2009 Democratic mayoral nominee Bill Brennan.

"In Westfield, crafting the budget is the most important thing the Council does," Baker said. "I hope you support me in having the budget meetings open to the public."

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Brennan made open budget meetings a cornerstone of his platform in his unsuccessful bid. The Democrat was defeated in a landslide by Mayor Andy Skibitsky last November.

Baker weaved together advocacy on opening budget hearings to the public and his opposition to the Council's decision to reduce the town's 57 member crossing guard corps by 17 members. Baker questioned Councilwoman Joann Neylan, the public safety committee chairwoman, about the process that will be used to determine which 17 posts will lose crossing guards. He questioned how the Council could vote on the budget with the exact crossing guard posts not being known.

"I don't know how a councilperson can vote for cuts without knowing how it will effect their ward," Baker said, questioning Neylan that the 17 cuts could be placed in one ward. 

Neylan said the cuts will be equally distributed across the town's four wards. She said the police department is currently conducting a study of the 57 posts to determine which can safely lose a crossing guard. She also noted her committee will be reviewing all available data in determining which posts are cut.

"I an assure you that it is an equable reduction," Neylan said.

Baker used the comments about the reduction to continue his suggestion that the budget writing sessions be opened to the public. He noted that public comment was resisted by the Council during the debate on the proposed municipal parking deck, which was later voted down in a public referendum. He said a similar thing could have occurred on the crossing guard issue.

Baker also suggested reducing the amount paid to parttime attorneys in the town government as a way to find money to pay for crossing guards.

Baker's comments started a small partisan war of words as Republican Councilman Jim Foerst suggested the Democratic Baker run for Council next year instead of speaking from the sidelines. Baker did not respond to the comment.

Following the public hearing, during Council comments on the budget, Baker interrupted Foerst's comments on the suggestions Baker earlier. Amid calls from Skibitsky that he was out of order, Baker stood and protested Foerst's comments. He also insisted he could speak at the time, due to Foerst's interruptions of his previous comments.

During Council comments, Haas explained his no vote on the budget he helped craft as the finance committee vice chairman. He noted that the budget did not contain a switch to have part time attorneys taken out of the pension system, a cause he has been pushing for several years. In the past few years, Haas and former Councilman Tom Bigosinski, a Democrat, have voted against town budgets over the issue.

Haas also noted that he was upset to not see an energy audit of muncipally owned buildings included in the budget. He said the state's decision to suspend the state program reimbursing municipalities up to two thirds of the cost of an energy audit would have been a benefit to Westfield this year with the tight budget. The state has said the program is suspended due to a large amount of towns seeking reimbursement under the program operated by the Board of Public Utilities.

Haas' Republican colleagues took issue with Haas' reasons on dissenting from the final budget vote after making the motion to formally introduce the budget at a prior Council meeting.

"I feel compelled to say that when someone moves for the budget and then votes against it, it is disingenuous," Neylan said. "I take exception to working on a project and then saying you can't stand behind that work."

Ciarrocca noted that the during finance committee meetings, Haas had suggested that the cost to implement the findings of the energy audit would cost the town more than would be reimbursed by the state. He said the issue is currently pending before the town's green team, which is developing a review of the town's energy and environmental policy and is putting together a plan to address these policy issues.

Ciarrocca also noted that the town's legal staff has started to see changes in pension benefits with the new public defender being part of the new defined contribution system used by the state instead of the old defined benefit system.

Haas noted that he did bring up the cost of the improvements generated by the energy audit but that the costs could be shifted to the town's capital budget and not as part of operating expenses.

Haas addressed the legal staffing issue, noting that the part time attorneys should be defined as consultants and not employees in order to move them out of the pension system.

 

 


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