WESTFIELD – Mayor Michael McCabe is asking the heads of city departments to pump up their utility line items in the coming fiscal year.

Individual department heads within City Hall met with the City Council during the last weeks in May to present their proposed budgets for the year starting July 1.

So far, every department that relies on some sort of fuel or energy source to operate has reported the same exact thing: That their fuel and energy budgets have increased significantly in anticipation of further price rises.

“Our finance team has met every week for the last few months, and we are asking department heads to increase their utility line items for FY23 by 23 percent,” said McCabe.

One thing he wants to avoid, he said, is departments needing to come back to the City Council before fiscal year 2023 is over, requesting more money for energy costs. That has already happened in the current budget year with at least one department. In her presentation to the council, Senior Center Director Tina Gorman said that she had to ask for money from the council just a few months ago, having not anticipated how sharply energy prices would rise when she developed her budget last year.

“Tina’s budget is down to brass tacks, she presents a budget of exactly what she needs,” said McCabe. “She is one of the few department heads that is able to encumber all of her money with a plan right at the beginning of the [fiscal year]. She had it down to the cent, so when prices increase like they have, you can’t pay for it under the current budget.”

In general, McCabe said he thinks the city is going into the final stages of the budget process with a balanced budget, but he said more money may also be needed to account for inflation, which has also affected the costs of just about everything, not just energy and fuel.

“It is going to take a steady hand to guide us through this fiscal year, and it probably gets worse for us next year,” said McCabe.

One of the highlights of the budget so far to McCabe is $5 million that has been allocated to maintenance and repair of Westfield’s roads. He said more money is also going into different departments with the intent of fixing logistical issues and “to make for better structure” within the departments.