o ! O • PC Ski the slopes Health tips vertlme Historic Rheimt i : close to home Our special section covers boys hoops fitness from shoes to videos Champagne capital feature :atholic in OT In this week's of new Forbes-Lufthansa trip Pull-out section inside uJ Sports, page A-ll Details are on page A-9 The^festfield Record Vol. 3, No. 4 Thursday, January 23,1992 A Forbes Newspaper 25 cents Plan to regain Cop pulls surplus mulled girl out DONALD HZD Jit the budget last year, but because of the state mandate, $4 million additional sur- of lake THE RECORD plus dollars were used, for a total of $5.9 The Town Council is considering a plan million. •y DOWALD mat ML . that would recapture funds from the This resulted in a drastic reduction in THE RECORD town's surplus accounts that, by state the municipal tax rate, from 52 cents per mandate, must be used to reduce the tax $100 of assessed value to 30 cents. Because Even off-duty, Westfield pofice officers rate. of increases in the school taxes, the av- are called on to provide heroics. Town Administrator John Malloy intro- erage home owner whose home is as- Such is the case of Westfield De- duced the plan at the council's first budget sessed at $180,000 only saw a decrease of tective Patrick Gray, who came to the aid hearing of the new year. The plan called two tax points in his or her total tax bill. A of a small girl Monday after she fell for a "four-time infusion of revenue" into tax point in town is roughly $18. through the ice in the Ocean County the budget, that would recapture the sur- One-eighth of last year's school budget town of Beachwood. plus funds into capital assets. would be $4,395 million, which the town According to a friend of Del. Gray who He suggested appropriating $1.3 million would have to put toward the municipal did not want to be identified, 12-year-old this year into a capital improvement fund. budget in 1992. Colleen Gibson fell through the ice while Money put into such a fund cannot be Since the mandate runs through 1994, playing with friends on the frozen bay. used to support the budget. Westfield residents would see lower mu- Det. Gray, who was visiting the area, Mayor Richard Bagger said the idea did nicipal tax bills until then if nothing is saw the incident, according to the friend. GEORGE PACCIELLCYTHE RECORD not necessarily mean taking the funds out done, said Mr. Malloy. In 1995, however, Seeking unity: New Westfield Area Chamber of Commerce presi- The detective, who recently had sur- of surplus and "spending it all on good- the town's surplus funds will be depleted. gery performed on his hand, ran to the dent Robert Newell stands in the heart of the central business ies." The funds could stay in the capital "In 1995, there's nothing left," he said, district. One of his primary goals as president is to unite mer- improvement fund, where they would earn "and there will be a rebound (an increase water after Colleen fell through the ice. chants, property owners, residents and elected officials, so to- interest. The mayor said the proposal had of the tax rate by as much as 30 points)." Using only his good hand, he pulled the gether they can decide what Is best for the central business his full endorsement. Mr. Malloy warned the council that by girl out of the cold water. The incident district The town is required through revisions following the proposed plan they would occurred sometime around 4 p.m. to the Quality Education Act of last year to stand to take some criticism over a tax "It was really a good thing he was put one-eighth of the amount of last year's increase this year that could be about 10 there," said the friend. "She never would school budget into the municipal budget. points — an average annual increase of have gotten out of the ice by herself. All 'Unity' is watchword Prior to the QEA provisions, Westfield five to six points, plus an additional five of the kids were yelling for help, and Pat had put $1.8 million in surplus into the points through the recapturing plan. ran down and got her out." budget in 1987, $1.6 million in 1988, $1.45 Through the plan, however, "we'll be The water in the area of the bay million in 1989 and $1.7 million in 1990. back to where we started in four years, where the children were playing was of new chamber head The Town Council had targeted only except it will be in four bites rather than (Please turn to page A-4) $1.95 million in surplus funds to go toward (Please turn to page A-4) By OONMA PUB JR. the subjects of public meetings this sum- THE RECORD Mr. Newefl said the committee wi go Talk to Robert Newell about what he'd before the Town Council in December to like to see during his tenure as president of present their innings. Budget cap the WestfleW Area Chamber of Commerce "Basfcaty, it wi reooft back to the Town Commemoration and the word unity comes up a lot. Council on whether a program is desired, Unity among retailers in town. Unity which one, and how it can be imple- challenges among the various components of the mented, " he said. "The consensus may be chamber. Unity among residents, mer- that there is no consensus, and then it chants, politicians and land owners in en- might be dropped." hancing the centred district. The new cham- He emphasized the need for the input of school board ber president stresses the need for ali of the entire community in the process. these. "Since the downtown is the hub of the •y CMmtnm PI itAi One of Mr. Newell's first acts as presi- community, we have to find out what the THE RECORD dent was to appoint the Downtown Com community wants," he said. "By the end of Westfield School Board members are mittee last week with Mayor Richard Bag- 1992, we should find out what it is the struggling to put together a budget that ger. The mayor announced the formation of community wants out of its downtown. It's meets a 5.63 percent increase cap imposed the committee in his New Year's address not just a chamber effort, it's a community by the state this week. on Jan. 2. effort." The new committee's diverse mix o) mer- Superintendent Mark C. Smith said the In addition to unifying retailers and pro- chants, land owners, past and present poli- finance committee was scheduled to meet moting the downtown as a cohesive group, ticians and residents was intended, ac- today and present the tentative budget Mr. Newell stressed a desire to get more cording to Mr. Neweti. Friday. professionals and service companies In- The public will not have access to the "It's a very broad-based committee," he volved in the chamber. budget until Tuesday, when the board said, "it represents the entire community, votes on whether to accept it. The board and we intend to get the whole committee "Retail actually only makes up one-third of the business in town," he said. must adopt a tentative budget on Tuesday involved in the process ' to meet the state deadline. The committee's basic charge is to re- Another goal of Mr. Newell's is to have DAHYL STONE/THE HECOfID view, analyze and develop a consensus on the chamber's Economic Development "We will have to make two choices. The A day of commemoration: tongs permeated fifth annual Martin whether a revitaKzation program is needed Committee begin analyzing what types of first is whether to vote on a budget that Luther King Jr. service at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Monday. businesses are presently in town and what will exceed the cap or not. The second is, in town, he saW. Two programs, the Main if so, by how much?" said Mr. Smith. Participants included this trio following lyrics In program book. Street revttalizatton program and the Spe- types are not. A major effort will then be Related photo on page A-5. cial Improvement District (a funding mecha- made to attract new kinds of businesses to The superintendent explained that (Please turn to page A-4) many school expenses are rising at a nism for programs like Main Street) were greater rate than the cap. "There is almost nothing that we are purchasing for the schools that is increas- ing at or below the cap," said Mr. Smith. Westfield girl takes part Contracted salaries will go up 7.5 per- cent. Instructional materials and supplies, which the schools must purchase every Calendar could have school year just to keep the existing ones replen- in Dr. King's memorial ished, are higher also. For example, one fourth grade text is up 11 percent, and a By DONAU PIZH JR. er people to be involved," said Miss Bar- starting before Labor Day first grade consumable book is up 8.8% nes, "and he personally invited me to go." since last year. THE RECORD "It was a very unique experience, and •y CHWW1NA Pg I8A8I April vacations to 4-day long weekends, Special services will rise by 7.5 to 8 per- For Westfield resident Kim Barnes, it quite an honor to be one of only 100 per- added a week-long March vacation, and THE RECORD cent and electricity and gas by 6 percent.