Passing A Budget

Is A Community Effort

To the Editor:

I wish to congratulate and express my gratitude to the many people who were involved in the budget process this year. The members of the Board of Finance and Legislative Council did due diligence in reviewing and analyzing the budget and in making the recommendations they felt were in the overall best interests of the town. A core of devoted parents did an outstanding job in getting the message and vote out. The Board of Education members were active in providing meaningful information to all members of the community. Our faculty and staff served as ambassadors for our school system through their fine work that has garnered respect throughout the community. The resulting vote on the first and only referendum was testimony to the strong support for the budget this year and our school system in general.

Although this budget was lean from the start, the balance that it struck between the needs of our town and the desires of our taxpayers resulted in the successful outcome. The timely conclusion of the budget process this year will enable our school system to have an advantage over surrounding districts in our efforts to recruit the best teachers from this season’s pool of candidates to fill our vacancies.

Passing a budget is a community effort. It takes dialogue, information sharing, open minds, and voter participation. This year the community pulled together to discuss the issues, understand the details, and consider the needs of our town. They also voted in greater numbers than they have in the past on a first referendum. I hope that next year even more people will choose to be involved in the budget process and vote on the day of the referendum.

Sincerely,

Dr Evan Pitkoff

Superintendent of Schools

4 Fairfield Circle South, Newtown                                  May 5, 2004