Received wisdom in this age of politics and polemics holds that we should do unto others before they do unto us: define opponents in the worst possible light before they can define themselves, ignore facts when possible, and make them up when necessary. Above all, never listen to anyone who might hold a contrary view. How nice it has been to discover over the last couple of years just how far Newtown lags behind the political trendsetters, especially when our backward ways will yield for us a tax rate reduction if the $111 million budget is approved on April 28.

Overall spending in the proposed 2015–16 spending plan is up just six-tenths of a percent, but thanks to growth in the grand list of taxable property in town and other revenues, the tax rate is shrinking by seven-tenths of a percent. In terms of the bottom line, it seems like Newtown is being offered a little bit more for a little bit less, but what has happened over the last two local budget cycles is far more impressive than that. Town and school officials have moved from a sometimes cranky adversarial relationship to a remarkably collaborative budget process where dialogue between the Board of Education, Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen, and Legislative Council starts early and persists in a process of discussion and follow-up. Quaint notions like letting everyone have a say, listening to contrary views, and facing facts have turned what seemed like a zero-sum game into a win-win.

Playing a key role in this transformation was the school district’s new superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, who put his shoulder to the momentum toward cooperation begun in John Reed’s tenure as interim superintendent. Dr Erardi said recently that he got a lot of good advice in this year’s budget preparation from both town and school officials, especially with regard to strategies to reap savings from enrollment reductions without affecting class sizes or the district’s core educational mission. “It felt like a partnership,” he observed in a video discussion of this year’s budget process [available at newtownbee.com and The Newtown Bee’s video channel on YouTube].

The school district wasn’t the only department to realize savings and some long-held goals. First Selectman Pat Llodra noted that in addition to getting a tax rate reduction, Newtown will finally start replenishing road reconstruction funding over time to restore the town’s road infrastructure to what it once was before a succession of underfunded years. There have been significant cuts to services over the past six years, according to the first selectman — but not this year.

We realize that all of the encouraging talk about this year’s budget emanating from town officials comes as they are making a sales pitch to the town before next week’s referendum. Yet it is clear that they are speaking this year in the spirit of actual and not feigned consensus, borne of months of analysis, talk, and action. They worked hard this year and are happy about where their efforts have gotten them. We think taxpayers should be happy, too, most of all for the emerging realization that in a community like Newtown, there don’t have to be others — only us.