GREENFIELD — Mayor Roxann Wedegartner has vetoed a City Council vote to transfer $2.2 million from free cash into capital stabilization.
Wedegartner, who originally sought $2.5 million for capital stabilization, said her veto was in acknowledgment of councilors’ previously expressed concerns about borrowing. She also rationalized that the contract stabilization account — the pool of money that councilors hoped the $300,000 difference would be transferred to instead to support teachers’ contracts — will have sufficient funding. If the City Council votes to approve a separate financial order to move $200,000 into contract stabilization, that account will total roughly $470,000.
“There’s no question that $2.2 million is still a fair amount of money to be in capital stabilization,” Wedegartner said. “But the less money I have available to me in capital stabilization, the less opportunity I have to choose that as one of the funding sources, and thereby lessen the amount we might have to borrow in any given period for that project or piece of equipment.”
Last month, city councilors reduced the mayor’s $2.5 million request for capital stabilization by $300,000 in the hope Wedegartner would write a new financial order to transfer $300,000 from free cash to contract stabilization instead.
The back-and-forth comes as contract negotiations continue for instructional assistants and teachers, the latter of which have been without a contract for more than 500 days. In October, School Committee Chair Amy Proietti asked the City Council to consider a larger sum of money in the contract stabilization fund.
Precinct 3 Councilor Virginia “Ginny” DeSorgher explained this dollar amount, if transferred instead to contract stabilization, would help bring the account closer to a sum of $700,000 or $800,000.
“We had over $4 million certified in free cash, which is the largest we’ve ever had,” DeSorgher said. “We heard an impassioned plea from (former Finance Director Elizabeth Gilman) about the need for keeping up with deferred maintenance and infrastructure. It sounded as if we’ve been ignoring this, and that doesn’t ring true. This council has done a fabulous job voting for needed deferred maintenance and infrastructure. …
“No one said a word about taking care of our employees. Those buildings we’re keeping up on are only as good as the fabulous staff we have inside of them.”
Precinct 2 Councilor Dan Guin said he thought the financing concept had merit but advised councilors to remember that while they can reduce the amount being transferred to capital stabilization, they can’t tell the mayor where to put the excess money.
“We can suggest it, but it’s not in our power to say where that money goes,” he said. “It’s a good recommendation, and I support it, but I’m just reminding everyone: If we reduce this, there’s no way of knowing it’ll end up there.”
At-Large Councilor Christine Forgey, however, argued the council was getting ahead of itself.
“In my opinion, it’s premature to go ahead with this,” said Forgey, a former Greenfield mayor. “The school superintendent, the negotiating team for the school board … everybody sits down and makes their best deal. The funding piece, when the deal is done, comes back to the school board and they approve it or disapprove it.”
Forgey also echoed a comment made by Precinct 9 Councilor Derek Helie, which suggested more communication between the city and school side of government, as well as a review of ledgers and where and how School Department money is spent.
“I have kids in the Greenfield system,” Helie said. “The No. 1 person that makes those schools work are the teachers, and I support their contracts, but … we have no control over the School Committee budget and how they’re using (money).”
Other councilors, including Precinct 4 Councilor John Bottomley and Precinct 1 Councilor Katherine Golub, emphasized the importance of fighting for the teachers.
“These jobs have to be competitive,” Golub said. “I get that this is an imperfect process, and of course, we cannot allocate the money. We would make this cut in the hopes the mayor would come back to us with an order to put the money in contract stabilization. … We’re going on trust.”
Although the City Council can now decide whether to override the mayor’s veto, the timeline to do so is unclear.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.