No Free Lunches

To the Editor:

We must slow the steadily rising cost of running Newtown. There are two — and only two — alternatives. Either one will be expensive.

Some have made much of the need to restrain spending on the education side of the budget. These slash and squeeze arguments, put forth by people who hold themselves out as fiscally responsible, miss the target utterly. Were we to follow their line of thought, the inevitable outcome would be to degrade the quality of the education our schools offer. In a community literally built upon that cornerstone, the impact on property values would not be desirable. The impact on the kids would be far less so.

The rate at which municipal operating expense is rising can, perhaps counterintuitively, best be curtailed by funding the acquisition of land (or of the development rights) that would otherwise be subdivided and cleared for new residential construction.

Friends of education in Newtown and those chiefly concerned with controlling their property tax bill should join forces, and commit to active support for full funding of such a land acquisition program. Failure to meet on this common ground will only serve to ensure a continuation of the annual fight over education spending (accompanied by increases in class size and reductions in programs) and, after that is all said and done, continued tax increases.

There are solutions to our current dilemma, but no free lunches.

Chris McArdle

Bennetts Bridge Road, Sandy Hook                             April 14, 2004