As a member of the Legislative Council and former member of the Board of Finance, I have helped craft the past seven budgets for our community. Some budgets I have liked, some I haven’t. I work to find balance in our spending by prioritizing the “needs” and giving very careful consideration to the “wants.” It’s a messy job and it gets harder every year given the fiscal constraints we all live with.

I am very worried about what the municipal and education budgets could do to our taxes a year from now with revaluation coming and expected slow growth in the Grand List, which generated enough new revenue this year to largely offset the spending increase. While I always try to avoid getting political when it comes to town and school spending, I know Newtown needs a strong partner in Hartford to make sure we are getting every penny of state aid to help defray our mounting costs.

Brandon Moore is my choice to represent Newtown in the 106th District. I met Brandon in the fall during our local election campaign. How would I describe him? High energy, forward thinking, experienced, and bursting with creative ideas about how to help fund our government. Having worked for both the governor and lieutenant governor, Brandon has a pipeline to sources of grant revenue in Hartford. We need a stronger advocate for Newtown, especially as a local committee begins to study what to do with our aging school buildings. This effort likely will result in a request for many, many millions of dollars to be borrowed. Brandon realizes the seriousness of this situation, and I know he will fight at the state level for money to offset our construction costs.

We are all being pinched with significantly higher prices for gas, heating oil, food, and just about everything we buy, and there’s no end in sight. We will need to lean hard on our state leaders in the coming years, and I trust Brandon Moore more than any other candidate to strongly advocate for us. Please give him your vote at Tuesday’s Democratic caucus.

These comments represent my own opinion and not of the Legislative Council of which I am an elected member.

Chris Gardner

Newtown