Selectmen Reflect On 2012 Budget Process

By John Voket

Selectman Will Rodgers said after completing the Board of Selectmen’s portion of the 2012-13 budget deliberations, that it was a rough year because there was so little discretionary room for spending after contractual obligations. At the same time, he recognized there was a legitimate need established for vehicle replacements in the town motor pool, as well as with police and fire services.

“We’ll see what we can do. We’re going to try hard to get [the fire commission] one, and when you consider the other vehicle we were originally planning to trade in, it could have the effect of two — even if one of those goes to the fire marshal,” Mr Rodgers said.

He also praised First Selectman Pat Llodra and Finance Director Robert Tait.

“They don’t give themselves enough credit. They don’t bring any public notice to the extreme amount of prescreening they did before we even sat down to work on this proposal,” Mr Rodgers said. “And Gaston wasn’t doing any grandstanding. In fact, it was helpful that he came to our board from an apolitical position, where it was all about the numbers.”

Mr Rodgers said that he was also pleased because even though there were very few discretionary expenditures in the proposal, the board resisted the temptation to get “wrapped around the axle” on any of those few points in the spending plan.

He also lauded both the fire and the parks commissioners for being sensitive to “tempering their operational requests with an eye on what they see coming in the Capital Improvement Plan.” And Mr Rodgers said his wish would be that the other two boards (finance and the Legislative Council) do not allow themselves to get inordinately wrapped up in the few discretionary items in the proposal.

“Give everything a fair examination on its own,” he said, “instead of feeling obligated to make a change because they can.

“And my message to the public is, we did a good job with a proposal that doesn’t have much room to move, even if some disagree with discretionary decisions that we made,” he said.

While this round of deliberation was Mr Rodgers third as a selectman, it was the first for Mr Gaston, after serving five terms on the finance board.

When all was said and done, the first-term selectman told The Bee he witnessed a keen distinction between the role of a Board of Selectmen and a Board of Finance member.

“The selectman is responsible for the administration of the town and therefore, without ignoring other needs, is chiefly responsible for advocating for the needs on the town side,” Mr Gaston said. “As a result, with respect to the town budget, the selectman assumes an on-the-ground role.”

In contrast, he said his former role on the finance board mandated there be no advocacy for one side or the other.

“Instead, it entails a due diligence inquiry, and an evaluation at the 10,000-foot level in order to balance the needs with the financial means between town and education,” he observed. “The best analogy I can think of is: the Board of Selectmen are the pilots of the town aircraft; the Board of Finance are the air traffic control, working to keep the town plane, and other planes up in the air, flying as safely, efficiently and effectively as possible, routing through the most essential avenues possible.”