Five of Newtown’s top elected officials invited The Newtown Bee to the home of Board of Finance Chairman John Kortze April 15 to film a series of videos addressing key questions ahead of the 2015-16 budget referendum on April 28.

Mr Kortze was joined by Legislative Council Chair Mary Ann Jacob, Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, First Selectman Pat Llodra, and Board of Education Chairman Keith Alexander. The questions officials responded to were:

*Why should voters support this budget?

*Explain a little bit more about the overall process and level of cooperation.

*What particular items in the budget would you like voters to understand are being funded?

*What reductions were made from the originally proposed budgets?

*How are taxes going down if we are increasing our spending?

Below are excerpts from responses to some of the questions asked - View Part 1 hereView Part 2 hereView Part 3 here 

Why should voters support this budget?

John Kortze: “I think probably one of the best words I could use to describe this upcoming budget referendum and what is being presented to the public, is ‘comprehensive.’ There are an awful lot of things addressing an awful lot of different issues — from roads to new programs.”

Mary Ann Jacob: “I think it’s a fair budget. We worked hard to make sure reductions were made in areas that we could — like commodities; we made sure to fund things that are important to the taxpayers; and we’re very respectful of the fact that people want to have their taxes very closely watched and possibly reduced.”

Joseph Erardi: “The intent and design of the school board budget was to do a couple of things — one is to maintain the core of teaching and learning, two is to offer opportunity to enhance what we’re presently doing, and three — never lose sight of [the] children. With all that being said, it was done in a respectful manner to this community with a bottom line that I think offers all those opportunities, and an opportunity for this community to embrace going forward with this year’s budget.”

Pat Llodra: “We made it very clear in all our public discussions that our goal was to present to the community a budget that has no tax increase, and a decrease in the mill rate — knowing to achieve that we’re going to have to work closely with our Board of Education partners and all of our department heads. At the same time, increasing substantially the allotment for road repairs and reconstruction which is a critical quality of life [issue] for our community.”

Keith Alexander: “I think the best word I’ve been using is ‘respectful.’ It started with Dr Erardi bringing a respectful budget forward to the Board of Education that considered both declining enrollment, new district needs and changes to district grants. And it moved onto the respectful conversations that we had with the Board of Finance — in-depth questions from them — as well as respectful conversations with the Legislative Council. Everyone’s questions got answered and we tried to make sure it was all out in the public as soon as possible. Because of that process, I think we ended up with a budget everyone in town can respect.”

Explain a little bit more about the overall process and level of cooperation.

Keith Alexander: “The Board of Finance [asked] a number of questions and they got them to us as quickly as they could — they gave us time to review and get answers back to them — then we brought those answers out in public sessions…and posted them online as well. Then the Legislative Council’s Education Committee worked on it in the same fashion. It’s been collaborative the entire time.”

Pat Llodra: “I’ve witnessed in the past couple of years a growth in the capacity of our decisionmakers on all of our board and commission levels to collaborate, and cooperate and be good thinkers, good listeners — understanding that we all come to the process with different perspectives and different advocacies — and that’s our job, to advocate to the constituents we serve.”

Joseph Erardi: “Every town does their budget a bit different. And I was offered, I think, really sound advice — that was to stay true to the mission, be respectful to the process, and if the answers were not available, to find the answers and get them to the folks answering the questions. It felt like a partnership going forward. Good work taking place on all levels.”

Mary Ann Jacob: “The Board of Education provided us with the most comprehensive budget [document] from the get-go that I’ve ever seen, which really allowed the level of questioning to be much [better]. We didn’t get caught in the weeds. Keith and Dr Erardi’s practice of answering our questions in writing…allowed us to all share them early. So as the Board of Finance was receiving their answers we were sharing them with the council members. Then, the committees of the council were already beginning to formulate their own questions which we were able to send back to the board of finance early on. With that collaboration we were able to give the Board of Education and Board of Selectmen time to answer the questions. It allowed the process when it got to [the council] to move more smoothly.”

John Kortze: “There’s been a real good thing happening in the last couple of years, and the word cooperation, I think, undersells it. You saw the public well served this year. You saw a process unfold where questions were not only asked and answered, but dialogue that followed up on a number of these difficult topics.”