Town Budget Includes Change in Library Funding

A change in the funding mechanism for the highlights the 2011 town budget, which was presented Tuesday evening.

said the $37 million budget proposal creates a new municipal library appropriation tax. He said this will take the annual library appropriation out of the town budget and into a separated account, funding through a direct library tax. The budgeted amount for 2011 is $2,449,454.

Gildea stressed that the library tax was not a new tax but a change in accounting.

"This is not a new tax, but a different way to display the Library appropriation on your tax bill," read a PowerPoint presentation on the budget.

Gildea's presentation noted the town has seen a continuing decrease in revenue, including non-tax revenue due to the recession. These funds have included a drop in construction permits due to the collapse of the real estate market.

For the second year in a row the total salaries and wages have been reduced, this years' total amounts to $287,377. This was done without laying off any employees, a strategy that Westfield has avoided but many other municipalities have turned to.

This process has taken place over a span of six years of assorted staffing reductions. The total reductions include 28 full time positions eliminated, 18 part time positions eliminated, nine full time positions reduced to part time, and six full time positions are now funded by outside tax support.

In last year's budget, the town changed the delivery of custodial services at the Municipal Building along with eliminating the town Department of Human Services. The town's welfare function is now handled by the county Department of Human Services. Both changes reduced total town staffing.

For the fourth year in a row operating expenses have been reduced. The town found a way to eliminate $250,598 worth of expenses. The reasoning behind these reductions are the state's new two-percent property tax cap, a decrease of 4.83% compared to the levy in 2010. 

Mayor Andy Skibitsky outlined the challenges in the upcoming 2011 Budget as maintaining our current services such a Police and Fire while combating reduction in both state aid and revenue. Westfield's state aid remained flat from last year, after seeing a drop in 2010 following Gov. Chris Christie's first state budget proposal.

The budget is likely to be approved by the Town Council in May. In recent years the budget has been approved with at least one dissenting vote. Councilman Dave Haas, the Council's lone Democrat, the spending plan in 2010, citing the town paying pensions for parttime lawyers.

In 2009, Haas was joined in the budget by then Councilman Tom Bigosinski, also a Democrat. In 2009, Haas opposed pay hikes for non-union employees, while Bigosinski cited the part time pensions.

A copy of the 2011 town budget presentation can be found here.