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| (WMassP&I) |
Under normal circumstances, Monday's meeting of the Springfield City Council would have been a quick one. There were few controversial items and councilors seemed in agreement about the diciest issues before them. Rather, since the council had not met since January, a huge amount of dust piled up that needed sweeping. There were questions about why some expenses magically appeared, but for the most they, and of course a cascade of grants, passed with little complaint. If there was any passionate moments, it came as the Council passed a home rule petition to change MCAS testing dates in Springfield.
The city financial team told the council that the city's budget is in flux and will require some repair throughout the rest of the year. Among the measures were additional funds transferred from the last budget's surplus to fund turnover in the city's vehicle fleet, the fire department, the assessors department, veterans affairs, and the election commission. While the capital budget transfers faced some questions from Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton, the others were accepted with minimal complaint.
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| Councilor Fenton (Facebook) |
The fire department deficit came from an overestimation of retirements and exhaustion of the overtime budget after the October snowstorm. Leann Pasquini, the city's budget director, said she did expect some amount of that to be recouped from FEMA, however. The Fire Department's staffing has been a concern for some time, however it has continued to perform, by any measure, very well including a recent year with no fire-related deaths. Staffing is down to 220 sworn firefighters from 390 in the 1990's.
Other funding transfers included an upfront payment to step-up assessments for next year's tax rate setting and an increase in demands for veteran's benefits. Veterans Services Commission Thomas Beltan explained that since the city turns away no veterans that request assistance, the added transfer was simply a function of increased need. The city will received 75% reimbursement from the state in the next fiscal year. Finally, Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola requested additional funding from the council to pay for the March 6th Presidential Primary. She said it was an oversight on her part that led to that primary's exclusion from her budget in June.
The council also accepted grants for the Library and Fire Departments. Helen Caulton-Harris secured another haul for Health and Human Services of over $75,000. Community Development accepted a grant from the state to design a parking garage for the Court Square Hotel. The council sent to committee grants from Comcast received as part of a settlement with the city.
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