WESTFIELD — Though some expressed disappointment it wasn’t being funded by the construction project, Westfield city councilors agreed on Thursday to spend $1.66 million in local funds to install a traffic light near the new elementary school.
The light will be at Franklin and Smith streets. The money will come from free cash, which is funds left over from previous years’ budgets. The traffic light was originally priced at $2.06 million, but Councilor Richard Sullivan Jr. said the council’s Finance Committee, on which he sits, had recommended the reduction in the amount.
He said the city Engineering Department’s original estimate for the work was $1.2 million, with a large $800,000 contingency in case bids came in over budget. All eight bids were around $1.2 million, however, and the engineer agreed $400,000 would be a sufficient contingency fund to meet unexpected costs during the construction.
