WESTFIELD — Mayor Michael McCabe’s fiscal 2025 budget hasn’t even made it to the Finance Committee yet, and already last week city councilors had comments.
McCabe submitted the proposed budget to the council at its May 16 meeting, and Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane moved to refer it to Finance, which she chairs. Before the vote, however, acting Council President Brent Bean asked if there was any discussion, and Councilor Dan Allie was prepared.
Allie said because the budget document is 900 pages, he had only read a portion of it to date. Referring to a letter from the mayor accompanying the budget, he said McCabe says the proposed city budget is $179,292,193, which represents a 4.8% increase from the adjusted fiscal 2024 budget. He said the increases are primarily due to increases in the costs of petroleum-based products, utilities, labor and infrastructure.
