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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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www.thewestfieldnews.com THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 041
Gateway FY16 budget gap options discussed By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer HUNTINGTON – The Gateway Regional School Committee meeting last night featured District Superintendent Dr. David Hopson giving a state of the district address of sorts, using a smart board to lay out the district’s proposed $16.4 million budget. He also asked members to weigh in on how the district should choose to cope with the loss of the town Worthington from the district and how they can make up a potential $1.07 million loss in revenue related to that. “Our time is growing short as always,” said Hopson of the timeline for making crucial budget decisions. “We haven’t received any indications from the governor about what his budget is going to look like other than he’s looking at a $1.5 billion deficit in his budget.” Hopson referenced a Finance Committee meeting that was held the night before and pointed to best- and worst-case scenarios for the district. “We already know that we’ll lose $147,000 in Chapter 70 funds and we know that we’ve been drawing E&D (Excess & Deficiency) down, so we anticipate a $160,000 decrease in the amount we can use to offset assessments,” he said. Gateway Business Manager Stefanie Fisk drew up a six-town budget at the end of 2014, carrying forward some of the state’s 9C budget cuts to regional transportation funding and without reducing essential services for the district, which decreased the budget $418,000 from current expenditures. Hopson showed the committee and the meeting’s attendees the estimated increases to each of the six remaining district towns’ assessments if no reductions were made for the budget for Fiscal Year 2016. According to those figures, the town of Russell would see the largest spike – $297,589 or approximately 28 percent – in their required contribution, while the town of Middlefield would see the smallest increase of $45,872 or roughly 4 percent. The other four communities would see increases between almost 27 percent (Huntington, $290,874) and roughly 9 percent (Montgomery, $93,978). The towns of Chester and Blandford would be required to shell out $200,253 and $151,024 apiece, increases of around 18.5 and 14 percent, respectively. “Those are fairly substantial increases,” said Hopson before asking the committee his “essential questions.” “Is an increase of $1 million, even after you decrease the budget $482,000, reasonable See Gateway Budget, Page 3
the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.” - ABRAHAM LINCOLN
75 cents
House OKs budget fix
50 SHADES OF GREY
‘Fifty Shades’ a grey area for campus officials, advocates By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – From the advent of “the pill” and “free love” to Roe v. Wade and the fight for gay rights, human sexuality has become as divisive a social wedge as there exists in America today, one that’s likely to become even more politicized after this weekend. That’s because the film adaptation of “50 Shades of Grey”, the first installment in British novelist E.L. James’ best-selling erotic romance trilogy, which has sold over 100 million copies since it’s release in 2011, will be arriving in movie houses worldwide tomorrow. The film, which is expected to clear over $60 million in the U.S. box office alone this
Valentine’s Day weekend, follows the story of a naive, nubile college student who falls for a wealthy Seattle businessman who introduces her to the deviant world of BDSM, an acronym for the sexual subculture that incorporates bondage and discipline, themes of dominance and submission, and sadomasochism. While “50 Shades of Grey” isn’t the first film to explore such kinky subject matter, it is among the first major studio releases to do so and it has garnered considerable controversy since the premiere of the trailers and receiving an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, as opposed to the MPAA’s most restrictive rating, See WSU Campus, Page 3
More snow, cold forecast for weekend BOSTON (AP) — Just as southern New England residents finished digging out from the latest storm, forecasters say more snow is on the way. The region, which has already had record snowfall, can expect more light snowfall today just in time for the evening commute, according to the National Weather Service. The snow should taper off early tomorrow morning, bringing Cape Cod up to 4 inches and around 2 inches elsewhere in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut. Forecasters are watching a more potent storm that could dump higher amounts over the Valentine’s Day weekend. The weather service says it’s too early to say
Children enjoy the freshly fallen snow. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
how much that might ultimately bring, but the Saturday to Sunday storm could bring “plowable snow.” Meteorologist Stephanie Dunten also warned of low temperatures tomorrow through the Presidents Day holiday on Monday. “The snow is not going to be melting anytime soon,” she said Tuesday. “We recommend homeowners scrape any snow off their roofs to avoid overloading, as we’ve already seen a few roofs collapsing.”
City Council meeting rescheduled By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – City Council President Brian P. Sullivan has rescheduled the next City Council meeting because of the number of members who plan to be out of the city during the February school vacation week. Sullivan asked for a show of hands at the end of the Feb. 5 meeting to determine how many council members have family-related plans which would conflict with the scheduled Feb. 19 council session. “I think there were six or seven councilors who indicated they would be going on vacation that week,” Sullivan said this morning. “Enough members indicated they
“Determine that
have family commitments to justify moving it.” The meeting has been rescheduled to Monday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The chairmen of the council’s Personnel Action Committee and the License Committee have also rescheduled those committee meeting to that Monday. The PAC will meet at 6 p.m., prior to the full council meeting, to discuss the reappointment of Matthew Barnes as a member of the Water Commission and the establishment of a new salary position for an assistant operations manager at the city’s animal shelter. The License Committee will convene at 6:45 p.m. to discuss the petition of Verizon New England
and the Westfield Gas & Electric Department to relocate and existing utility pole and to install a new pole on either side of Northwest Road. The council conducted a public hearing at its Feb. 5 session on that petition. The pole relocation and new pole installation were requested by West Springfield developer Joseph Kelley in support of the proposed 11-lot Angelica Estate subdivision. Paul Davis, the Verizon contractor, said that Kelley will pay for that work. Sullivan said the City Council has moved meeting dates which have fallen on school vacation weeks in the past. “This has happened before,” Sullivan said. “I know I have moved
BRIAN P. SULLIVAN them. I did it three years ago when this many members indicated they had conflicts, then if one or two members had an illness we would not have a quorum. I’ve checked with the members. It didn’t cause pain to push it to Monday.”
BOSTON (AP) — The Democraticcontrolled Massachusetts House approved yesterday the bulk of a plan offered by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to close a projected $768 million shortfall in the state budget. The deficit-reduction package was passed on a near unanimous vote without floor debate and sent to the Senate, where it could come up for action within days. Baker applauded the House vote, the first on a major bill submitted by the governor since he took office Jan. 8. “We look forward to swift action by members of the Senate and to workROBERT ing closely with both DELEO houses in the future on a commitment to craft a fiscally responsible and sustainable budget plan for next year that continues to protect local aid and Massachusetts taxpayers,” Baker said in a statement. “I want to thank Speaker Bob DeLeo, members of leadership and the House of Representatives for acting quickly on a responsible plan to close this fiscal year’s budget deficit.” The governor and legislative leaders had ruled out new taxes or cuts in state aid to cities and towns as means of reducing the deficit. The House did eliminate from the plan one Baker proposal that lawmakers said would have given the administration more power to restructure benefits for some Medicaid recipients. The plan includes a $40 million cut in state transportation spending, of which $14 million would come from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. House leaders assured members that the reduction would not cause further headaches for the MBTA, which has been plagued by equipment breakdowns and service disruptions during the recent spate of severe winter weather. Rep. Brian Dempsey, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the cuts would be achieved through a hiring freeze and by reducing administrative overhead at the T. The deficit-reduction plan also calls for a 1.5 percent reduction in the budgets for state colleges and universities, and a similar reduction in funding for non-executive branch agencies. Baker had already moved to trim $145 million in executive branch spending, cuts that did not require legislative approval. The bill would also create a tax amnesty program for Massachusetts businesses with overdue tax debts and use $131 million in anticipated capital gains tax revenue to reduce the deficit. Those funds would otherwise have been deposited into the state’s rainy day fund. The shortfall in the state’s $36 billion budget has been blamed on a number of factors, including the breakdown of the state’s health connector website and less than anticipated revenue from nontax sources such as REP. JOHN state fees. State Rep. John VELIS Velis of the 4th Hampden District applauded the efforts of the House, especially regarding the decision not to implement any new taxes. “In today’s frazzled economy, it’s not the time to impose new taxes,” said the Westfield Democrat, adding that he was proud that the House opted not to touch the See Buget Fix, Page 3