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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
VOL. 83 NO.137
THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2014
Councilors seek to increase revenue By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council’s Finance Committee reviewed the budgets of several departments last night seeking options to increase revenue collected by those departments. City Collector Michael McMahon was asked a number of questions about the “efficiency” of tax collection within his department and if that department, critical to revenue collection, is properly staffed. McMahon said that the department is currently at a full staffing level. Ward 5 Councilor Robert Paul Sr., a member of the Finance Committee, noted that several of the departments have staff with the same job classification and asked if it would be more efficient, and cost effective, to establish a clerical pool to serve all City Hall departments. ”We tried that a while ago,” McMahon said. “It didn’t work out too well because of the different skills needed in different departments.” Finance Chairman Christopher Keefe, the Ward 1 Councilor, asked about percentages of various tax categories collected by McMahon’s department, such as property and excise taxes. McMahon said that 99 percent of property tax is collected annually and that the department has a process for collection of delinquent taxes. Keefe estimated that the one percent of taxes which are delinquent represent about $639,000 and asked about the process of collecting those delinquent funds. “After two or three years we put that property into tax title which is the first step to foreclosing on the property,” McMahon said, adding that usually property owners make arrangements to pay the owed taxes, and 14 percent interest, before the city takes the property. McMahon said that he anticipated that excise tax for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, will be just over $3.9 million. Delinquent vehicle owners are charged 12 percent on their outstanding excise tax bills. McMahon said his department notifies the Registry of Motor Vehicles about delinquent excise payments and that vehicles owners usually pay when they attempt to renew their driver’s license or vehicle registration and find they are blocked by the Registry of Motor Vehicles because of the excise tax owed. “Excise tax revenue took a major dip when the recession hit,” McMahon said because people held onto their older vehicles longer than before the recession. “Now it’s almost back to what it was before the recession.” City Assessor Robin Whitney was asked by At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty about that department’s role in administrating tax incentive financing (TIF) agreements between the city and businesses. The City Council votes to approve a package of property and personal tax breaks for companies building new facilities or expanding existing buildings in the city, a process that increases the overall property tax value after the TIF expires. The TIFs, which also have to be approved by state agencies, are directly linked to commitments by the business, including adding new jobs to the local workforce. Flaherty has been uncomfortable with the scrutiny of compliance with those See Revenue, Page 3
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” — Albert Einstein
75 cents
Drug collection program detailed
Pauline Dunlap, an amateur radio operator, monitors a bank of ham radios as part of a simulated disaster drill which involved various portions of the United States. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
Town readies for emergency exercise By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The town’s emergency management department is once again taking part in a 24-hour radio communication exercise June 28-29. Emergency Management Director Charles H. Dunlap said this will be his 52nd year participating in the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES) exercise, which includes radio operators across the United States and Canada. “We will use the space behind Town Hall and in the back of Prifti Park,” said Dunlap. ‘We will set up on Friday and begin at 2 p.m. Saturday.” The exercise includes disaster simulation tests to facilitate emergency, health and welfare message communications for local, regional and national needs. Dunlap said locally, Southwick, Granville, Blandford, Agawam, Ludlow and East Longmeadow will participate. Contact will be made to numerous states and Canada. Dunlap said during the event, the operators are not allowed to try to contact anyone outside the U.S. and Canada but they can answer if contact is initiated from outside the country. Dunlap received permission from the Board of Selectmen to use the space behind Town Hall. He sought permission from the parks and Recreation Commission Tuesday to use the rear of Prifti Park, but only two members of the commission were present at the regularly scheduled meeting. “We cannot vote on this, but I have no problem with it,” said commission chairman Kelly Magni. “Plan on going ahead and we will vote next week.” Dunlap said the exercise is “basically an
See Prescription Drugs, Page 3
Heroin user shields father
Charles Dunlap, Southwick emergency management director, foreground, uses the emergency communications vehicle to communicate with amateur radio operators around the country in a simulated disaster drill. (File photo by Frederick Gore) endurance training and test.” Members of the public are invited to observe the exercise. Three emergency command stations will be established under simulated disaster field conditions. The third station will be at the Emergency See Emergency Exercise, Page 5
MGM to get state’s 1st casino By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press SPRINGFIELD (AP) — MGM will be named Massachusetts’ first casino operator, but the Las Vegasbased gambling giant will not have to immediately pay millions of dollars in state fees and other payments required by law. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission reviewed the casino’s $800 million Springfield project nearly two days before the panel agreed in principle yesterday to issue the license to MGM but delay the payments, pending a deci-
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – City officials are defining what prescription drugs may be dropped off at the collection box in the lobby of the Westfield Police Department. The drug kiosk was initiated by the Health Department with two goals: to reduce the non-medical use of prescription drugs and to eliminate improper disposal of prescription drugs in household water. Health Director Joseph Rouse said that a 2011 substance abuse survey indicates that more than six million Americans abuse prescription drugs and that among youths JOSEPH A. 12 to 17 years of age, 7.4 percent ROUSE report non-medical use of prescription drugs. “Properly disposing of excess (prescription) drugs is everyone’s responsibility as a matter of public health and safety,” Rouse said in a prepared text released yesterday. “More than 70 percent of young people abusing prescription pain relievers get them through friends or family, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet,” he said. “Westfield is committed to providing residents with a safe, secure and environmentally sound way to dispose of unwanted or expired household medication, including prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs and unused pharmaceuticals,” Rouse said. “The collection site (located in the lobby of the Police Department) is open 24 hours a day, seven days
sion by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. The court is considering whether a voter referendum to repeal the state’s casino law should be allowed on the November ballot. The commission decision comes after MGM officials suggested new language that would hold off an $85 million state licensing fee, which is due about 30 days after the license is awarded. Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said the casino’s concern about paying the non-refundable fee was “perfectly rea-
sonable,” given the uncertainty around the court case. “We fully intend to make this award. We’re very pleased with the proposal, but we’re going to work with (MGM) to accommodate these other eventualities,” he said. “These are just business-like accommodations to these realities.” The commission plans to finalize its decision tomorrow. MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis said the company, which reported more than $2.6 billion in domestic See MGM, Page 3
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A city man, caught by State Police in possession of heroin, was quick to take responsibility for his contraband in order to shield his father from the repercussions of heroin possession. State Trooper Gail Buck reports that she and Trooper Steve Hean had been monitoring traffic near the intersection of North and East Mountain road Monday afternoon when a random query of a passing vehicle revealed that the son of the registered owner was the subject of two outstanding warrants. Buck reports that although the operator matched the Registry of Motor Vehicles photo of the owner, the passenger appeared to be the age of the owner’s son and the troopers followed the station wagon until it stopped at a convenience store where the passenger entered the store. The troopers followed him inside and, when asked, he identified himself as Gerald F. Mulligan Jr., 34, of 103 Court Street, but denied knowledge of the warrants. Buck reports that when taken into custody he was asked, “since he had prior history of class A substance offenses”, if he was in possession of any needles and Mulligan said that although he did not have any needles on his person he had a “kit” in the car. Buck reports “Mulligan was concerned about his father (owner/operator of the vehicle) getting into trouble” and was forthright with the troopers. The operator of a vehicle is considered to be in control of a vehicle and is generally responsible for its contents. Mulligan told them that he had just purchased heroin in Holyoke and had recently injected a dose in a restaurant bathroom. Buck reports that his father consented to a search of his vehicle and she found the kit, which included “five pink wax bags (bindles), each with a small amount of tan residue inside” which she recognized to be packaging for heroin. She also found three white pills and reports “Mulligan admitted that these were sleeping pills, not prescribed to him.” Mulligan was arrested and the bail clerk ordered that he be held without right to bail. Arraigned in Westfield District Court Tuesday before Judge Philip A. Contant on charges of possession of a Class A drug and possession of a Class E drug, Mulligan was held in lieu of $500 cash bail pending a July 10 hearing.