Angry, Frustrated, And Disheartened

(The following letter to the Board of Selectmen, the Legislative Council, the Board of Finance, and the Board of Education has been received for publication.)

Dear BOS, LC, BOF, and BOE:

The public’s trust for both the town and the education budgets was shaken again at the Wednesday, June 6, Legislative Council (LC) meeting. This issue of trust was mentioned during the same meeting’s initial public comment. There are many reasons for the lack of trust, ranging from fear to misunderstanding to misinformation to rumor to specific circumstances. One positive effort toward changing the lack of trust is a goal of transparency. This goal appears to be supported throughout the town.

Contrary to transparent practices, however, was the disclosure at the LC meeting of $240,000 in unassigned funds that have existed in the capital nonrecurring account since 2008. This disclosure reinforces the perception that misleading strategies may be being used. While it is true that the budget document is available to the public, there is also a trust expectation of clarity, full disclosure, and information openness in discussions. This is transparency. It shouldn’t take a difficult budget situation or the sleuthing by private citizens to unearth funds.

I am angry, frustrated, and disheartened with the mistrust and especially with the public disclosure method of the capital non-recurring unassigned funds. We are a small community that is working to grow and move forward — knowing that there has been cash sitting in a fund, especially during these past three very difficult budget years, does not help strengthen trust levels. And this is in addition to the recent discovery by citizens of the refinancing and bond premium savings. That also fueled the mistrust and misperception issue.

So one logically asks as a result:

*What other town accounts have unassigned funds?

*Why did it take four years to publicly discuss these funds and/or utilize them against expenses?

*What other funds exist that the public does not clearly know about but the elected and appointed officials do?

*If funds exist, what specific financial strategies do they connect with and how?

*How can a townsperson better understand the system without having to read every financial document or become a CPA?

Having these and other questions answered could help begin to quell the wave of mistrust that is especially prevalent during the budget season and could move the town forward on a more positive path. Ultimately, the outcome would be the removal or minimization of the negativism and the achievement of the transparency goal.

Some ideas that may be able to provide steps toward transparency include revising current audit parameters, creating a more “user friendly” budget area on the website, implementing mini-financial lessons for people interested in the budget, and creating a “text book” to supplement the lessons.

Mrs Llodra stated at Wednesday’s LC meeting that there needs to be recognition of the fact that the “process [budget] is broken.” Please consider the above ideas as options to help “fix” the process with the ultimate goal of full transparency and trust.

Looking forward to continuing to work together to make it “Nicer in Newtown.”

Regards,

Kinga Walsh

21 Horseshoe Ridge Road, Sandy Hook                       June 13, 2012