Newtown Should Approve The Budget

To The Editor,

It is truly strange to find myself arguing in favor of a tax increase. I have, however, been following the budget process this year and find that I must do just that. While the numbers involved in this budget are a bit overwhelming, the reasons for the proposed increases are real. Those who would characterize it as a “rubber-stamped wish list” have not been paying attention. This is a responsible, well-thought-out, and much-trimmed budget. We should approve it.

Voting this budget down is voting to shortchange some segment of our community. It might be those who support a Fairfield Hills purchase. It might be the Parks and Rec supporters. It could be those who feel the need for town space upgrades. But, it will most probably be the schools, and our kids, who take the hardest hit. It has worked that way pretty consistently for the last few years.

There are members of the Legislative Council, most notably Mrs Pilchard and Mr Rochman, who would gleefully hack the Board of Ed budget to the bone! Their claim to fame is that they’ve consistently held the tax increases to around one mill for their tenure. They do not point out that this was accomplished, at times, by neglecting or postponing certain needs of the town. It is easy to cut the education budget because it is large, so that’s what they do. Meanwhile Newtown spending per pupil has dropped from 60 or 80th out of 169 CT towns, when Mrs Pilchard’s kids were in school, to 160th today. That, people, is shameful. Sadly I have not lived here long enough to benefit from their penny-pinching. I arrived just in time for the big increase that is the result of that policy.

This budget, if implemented and managed properly, will do just what the town needs it to do. That is: fix some problems we now face, and head off other problems before they get out of control. This budget, as The Bee editorial noted, is “the best we can do” this year for the town.

This should not be an issue that results in a “new resident” versus “Newtown old-timer” division of opinion – though that is how some view it and others want it to be perceived. Everyone who has moved here in the last five to 10 years however isn’t a corporate transient. Many of us plan to grow old here and want what is best for the town long-term – just like the long-time residents.

This is also not a case of outside special interest groups influencing the town. It seems that anyone who cares about something in town and is willing to speak out about it is branded a “special interest group” and their opinions discounted accordingly. If this is so we should acknowledge all the special interest groups. Include those with special interest in continued unchecked residential development, and those whose interest is in their own taxes never going up, even if that means letting the town drive itself into the ground. Don’t forget the group that likes to pretend that the town hasn’t grown or changed in the last 20 years and want to cling to some long-gone status quo. If some of these groups had taken an interest years ago maybe the town wouldn’t be facing the growth related problems that it is today. It is though, and the time-honored strategy of ignoring the problems and hoping they will go away has been proven not to work.

The town should certainly move aggressively to get a leash on residential development, and broaden the tax base via commercial development. But none of that will help this year. I do support tax breaks for financially qualified households. For the rest of us it’s time to stop moaning about our troubles and move to fix them. In the long run it will cost less to approve this budget and do it now, than to postpone it until the problems get out of control and seriously effect the quality of life in Newtown!

Mark Malia

52 Great Ring Road, Sandy Hook                         April 5, 2000