Hours in the assessor’s office will also be reduced as a result of the new budget.
WESTFIELD – One clerical position at City Hall was eliminated and public hours in the Assessors’ Department will be reduced with this week’s passage of the city’s new $116.2 million budget.
The layoff forces the department to eliminate public office hours on Wednesdays and close the office for an hour – 1 to 2 p.m. – on each of the other weekdays, assessor James M. Pettengill said on Friday.
James M. Mulvenna, director of the Westfield Public Works Department, is seen in the city's DPW garage.Budget constraints, which include an at least a 4-percent drop in state financial aid and another $1 million drop in motor vehicle excise tax, also led to the layoff of four laborers in the Department of Public Works and at least 13 teachers in the city’s public schools.
The laid-off public works employees had been assigned to trash collection operations at the municipal transfer station, according to public works director James M. Mulvenna. As a result, most collection trucks are now reduced to a one-person operation while the city investigates possible privatization of trash collection.
The School Committee is working to find a way to bridge an $864,000 gap in its budget after the City Council cut that amount on Wednesday as it approved the new city budget. That cut may force additional staff layoffs and reduction in student services, school officials have said.
Pettengill said the reduction in public hours for his department is “necessary to protect the city’s tax billing process. We continue to share the pain of a bad economy. Given the present set of circumstances we have had to come up with positive ways to deal with this latest test of our ability and resourcefulness.”
Pettengill noted that during the 1990s the Assessors’ Department had 10 employees; it now has five.