Where Was The Finance Bd.

On Fairfield Hills?

To the Editor:

I commend the Board of Finance for their ongoing evaluation of the Board of Education budget. Riding herd on expenditures in Newtown is one way to keep a lid on raising taxes. The school budget is subject to extensive review and each line item of the budget gets a complete review before it goes to the voters each year. That’s the way it should be.

What confuses me is that The Board of Finance, and Mr Kortze in particular, does not seem to feel that the town budget, and in particular expenditures up at Fairfield Hills deserve the same scrutiny and evaluation.

In fact the Board of Finance seems to be looking the other way, with a wink of the eye, as expenses skyrocket up at Fairfield Hills. Where were they when the Board of Selectman snuck an extra expense of $3.5 million dollars through without any voter participation, no capital expenditure process and no public hearing as is required by state statute? Why have they not said a word when the town’s entire grant process has shifted to sending money up to Fairfield Hills with no impact statements and no voter participation? There was no comment from the finance board on the Fairfield Hills Authority trying to lease properties and taking the entire 30 years lease payments upfront leaving the town with a greatly reduced revenue flow to cover future expenses. There were no comments when dollars were diverted from public works and other departmental cost centers to cover expenses at Fairfield Hills. The voters approved a budget and expected funds to be spent as presented, and instead the dollars have been diverted without so much as a whimper by the finance board.

Where is the before and after analysis of what they said they could accomplish with the voters $20 million dollars and what they didn’t accomplish with the $26 million already spent or committed to, 25 percent over the original budget. And where are the screams now that the Fairfield Hills Authority is admitting to their total failure and the need for $40 million dollars more.

Fairfield Hills is symptomatic with what is wrong with Newtown government. Lack of realistic planning, inability to be honest with the voters, no system of checks and balances, decisions based on politics not what the voters want, questionable legal advice based on what they can get away with rather than what is legal and right, and in the end finger pointing in every direction except to themselves.

It’s time for a change in Newtown. We need professional management to navigate the new environment, not old solutions which aren’t working. Our quality of life and our property values depend on us getting things right over the next few years, not in defending and hiding our mistake and following the same failed course.

Bruce Walczak

12 Glover Avenue, Newtown                                             July 22, 2009

(Mr Walczak is chairman of the Independent Party of Newtown and a candidate for first selectman.)