Voting Yes On June 8

To the Editor:

After voting No at each of the past two referendums, I will be voting Yes on Tuesday, June 8.

My decision comes after the Legislative Council, of which I am a member, reversed direction and agreed to recommend that the proposed education budget be increased. This dramatic, long-awaited change of events by the council came in response to the growing call for recognition by school supporters, who until now had been all but ignored. This is a first-ever, bold, and conciliatory gesture by my colleagues, and I commend them for arriving at a proposal that addresses the needs of those taxpayers who want lower taxes by reducing the originally proposed increase from 3 percent to 2.5 percent while also attempting to balance the wishes of education supporters with a small increase in schools funding. It was clearly a decision made by Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to bring our community together before Tuesday’s referendum.

Two-hundred-thousand dollars is a lot of money, and while it certainly does not close the gap in education funding that many school supporters have joined together this budget season hoping to fill, it is a dramatic gesture on the part of the Legislative Council to recognize that we must change course and do better in order to return our schools to Blue Ribbon status. That is an important message that I want to support because this change in course ultimately benefits every homeowner in town.

This $200,000 decision by the LC is worth many times that amount to Newtown and to Newtown’s education program because with this decision, some major barriers for voters came tumbling down. This is especially true for those taxpayers who used to vote out of fear that if the budget did not pass it would be reduced, endangering services and programs. That was the only way the Legislative Council would respond after a failed referendum, until now.

Regardless of whether you support lower taxes or funding for schools, voting out of fear on a mass scale should never be tolerated in Newtown. And with this latest budget offering from the council, Newtown is finally turning the corner and headed in the right direction, one step at a time. And last week’s $200,000 decision was clearly the biggest step of all.

Please support the budget on June 8.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown                                    June 2, 2010