One week after learning the city-owned utility is seeking a 32 percent increase in the water rate, Springfield aldermen were ready to question it.
Ald. Roy Williams said more information – in the form of a “fiscal impact note” – should have been provided, especially “after we have given promotions to fire, promotions to police, and, actually, each director that we’ve got getting all this, more money than the people whose place they took” after the new mayor installed almost all new department heads.
Ald. Erin Conley said the budget really doesn’t work that way, cautioning against “conflating” police raises with water rates. “Those are two separate funds that don’t touch at all,” adding that Springfield police officers had been paid very low and need to be brought into line with comparable cities; and that the infrastructure of CWLP’s water division is in critical need of repairs.
Williams described Conley’s explanation as a “word salad.”
The final budget vote is expected Feb. 20. The new fiscal year starts March 1.