To The Editor:

“What does it mean?” oddly enough that’s what a leading candidate in this year’s election asked! Here’s what it means, let’s use the current Town budget for example. When the Board of Selectmen proposed their budget, it included a million dollars in revenue that Newtown didn’t have, also cuts in services and funding to lessen a tax increase. When this was criticized, the majority on the BOS restored the funding cuts, adding another million dollars in costs, but kept in the revenue from a proposed building sale. This created an almost 2-million-dollar deficit in the budget handed to the Board of Finance. When asked about it, a selectman said “They didn’t want to tie the BOF’s hands,” really?

Remember Newtown schools account for almost 70% of all tax revenue spent, and rightly so. It’s tasked with a critical responsibility and is the Town’s largest employer. However, when the BOF met several times and reviewed the Superintendent’s proposed budget, there was resistance to making any adjustments to school spending. Dozens of people protested that ANY cut to the budget would devastate our schools. Yet the BOF made the case that given the financial stress many residents are under, reducing less than 1% of the district’s increased budget was warranted and, saved taxpayers $900,000.

The purpose of the Board of Finance is to safeguard Newtown’s fiscal health and ensure that the Town’s investment and budgetary practices are realistic, transparent, and accountable. To accomplish that, BOF members need to be experienced, competent people with the ability and knowledge to ask the right questions, do the research, and who can make the tough choices. Individuals who understand it’s about “Dollars and Sense.” Together we have over 100 years of budgetary and financial experience, help us put those skills to work for Newtown on November 4th.

Barney Molloy

Steve Goodridge

On behalf of the Republican candidates for Board of Finance

Newtown