Now that all the inter-departmental wrangling over budget numbers has concluded, the Legislative Council is prepared to present a plan for nearly $69 million in spending to the public for its reaction. The council has scheduled two public hearings on the its budget plan: the first on Tuesday, March 28, at 7:30 pm, and the second on Saturday, April, 1 at 9 am. Both sessions will be in the Newtown Middle School auditorium. The details of that budget plan can be found this week on page A9.

 The budget proposed by the Legislative Council this year is spending more than $2,750 for every man, woman, and child in Newtown. If this budget is ultimately approved, the cost of running the town will surge about 10 percent over last year, notwithstanding exhaustive efforts by town and school officials to find ways to economize, stretching existing resources as far as they will go. Think what you will about the efficiency of government on the state and national level, you will have to look very hard for wasted public funds on the local level.

Consequently, it is difficult to criticize this year’s proposed budget on any grounds except to say that it is growing too fast. Basically, it does what we want it to – it funds the school system adequately, and it addresses other areas of creeping deficiency, including growing needs for office space and an acute shortage of playing fields for the town’s many sports organizations. But the fact remains that the budget is growing too fast. Not every household budget in town will be able to absorb a 10 percent increase in taxes.

In the end, the solution to the problem of double-digit budget increases is not a function of budgetmaking. The budget is merely an effect and not the cause of the problem. The budget is growing too fast because the town is growing too fast. The population increases brought on by Newtown’s spurt in development have created the need for a new school, more athletic fields, and a full menu of support services from sewer pipes to social services. No amount of creative financing will be able to mitigate the very real costs that grow as a town grows in population. And because of the property rights our laws accord individuals, there is very little a town can do to stop its own growth. To their credit, the town’s land-use agencies and building department have worked hard to ensure that the development that does take place is safe and well-planned. For the most part, however, Newtown’s growth will be determined by market forces and the availability of buildable land.

Until the final build-out of Newtown, we will have to do the best we can with the resources we have. This year’s budget plan may not be pretty, but it is the best we can do.