New tax bills will be mailed to home and business owners by Jan. 1
WESTFIELD – City officials will use $1.2 million in reserve funding and a 1.5 percent property tax increase to finance municipal operating expenses for the current fiscal year.
The City Council, at a special Tuesday evening meeting, approved a new residential tax rate of $15.41, up from the current $14.69 per $1,000 property valuation. Also approved was a new commercial and industrial tax rate of $29.13 per $1,000 valuation, up from the current $28.62.
New property tax bills will be mailed to homeowners by Jan. 1.
Property taxes, along with reserve appropriations will finance $56.6 million necessary to cover current year operating expenses.
Council approval follows the request made late Monday by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik favoring the 1.5 percent rather than a 2.5 percent increased allowed under the Proposition 2 1/2.
Overall savings for the taxpayer is estimated at $544,000.
“We are in good shape,” Knapik said Tuesday. “We are expecting $3 million in state certified free cash and our stabilization fund is healthy at about $4.5 million all of which is taxpayer money. We are in a position to help ease the burden and we should do so,” he said, urging use of $1.2 million in reserves to offset a full 2.5 percent tax increase.
Several councilors agreed, noting that the city recently approved an 8-percent increase in sewer fees and adopted a $20 annual storm water fee on residents and businesses.
“The stabilization account is a fund that we can tap during unusual economic times or for emergencies. This is a time of economic burden on everyone,” City Councilor Richard E. Onofrey Jr., chairman of the council’s Finance Committee, said in endorsing the approved tax rate.
Councilor Christopher Keefe said “There are unmet needs in the city but this is an appropriate years to be a little conservative and offer a little tax relief.”
But, Councilor David A. Flaherty suggested the council use increased tax revenue to create a reserve fund to finance employee severance and other municipal retirement expenses.
That option is one the council is expected to look at when it begins its Fiscal 2012 budget deliberations next spring.
The increase approved Tuesday will create a tax bill of about $3,590 to the owners of a home valued at $233,000. That represents an increase of about $168 over the current tax bill.
The owners of a business valued at $550,000 will pay a new tax bill of about $16,021, an increase of $280 over current taxes.