Newtown Is Frugal Enough

To the Editor:

It is, in my view, a terrible shame that the town’s budget has been defeated by such narrow margins in two referendums. People can’t vote down higher gas prices, or higher prices for cars or homes. They can, however, reduce by a ballot the money that is available to pay for vital community services, and for the education of the town’s children. Maybe this is a lousy system. But we’re stuck with it.

Most of us who live in Newtown know that spending is not out of control. Our town officials, and our Board of Education, overseen by our Board of Finance, and our Legislative Council, are extremely frugal. We all know the statistics about how we spend less per pupil than most other towns, and much less than comparable towns. The Commission on Public Secondary Schools, our accrediting agency, knows this too and the high school of which we have always been so proud has received a warning because our extreme frugality has squeezed our blue-ribbon school to the point where it is plagued by serious overcrowding, insufficient materials and facilities, inadequate staffing, and insufficient course offerings. It won’t take many more failed referendums before our high school is put on probation. It won’t take many more failed referendums before Newtown is finally ranked last in the state in per pupil expenditure.

Yet there are some in our town who still feel that our town taxes and spends far more than it should. There may be some taxpayers who need more tax relief than they currently receive. But do most of Newtown’s taxpayers suffer more than people in similar towns? Those who watch our budgets like hawks are never able to find significant examples of frivolous or excessive spending. Yet a lot of people want to pay lower taxes, and they will feel better about lowering taxes if they can convince themselves that we are spending too much. At this point, I doubt that people who believe that Newtown is extravagant can be convinced that it isn’t. Those of us who feel that this town is frugal enough will simply have to outvote them.

I hope that many who care about Newtown’s future feel badly about what has happened in the past month. I hope that they will take time from their busy lives to vote in the next referendum. I hope that we will finally be able to give our frugal and dedicated town officials and educators the money they need to do their work to a standard that will make us all proud.

Dana Brand

5 Bradley Lane, Sandy Hook                                      May 24, 2006