Misplaced Blame

To the Editor:

If Democrat Christopher Lyddy’s proposal to establish a commission to study ways to reform statewide property taxes sounds familiar, it should. The Blue Ribbon Property Tax Commission, chaired by former first selectman Herb Rosenthal, spent nearly two years doing exactly what Lyddy has now suggested.

The commission spent thousands of hours examining the basis for property taxes and how they are used to largely pay for education in Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities. It suggested that in order to fully fund mandated programs and provide adequate services at least $755 million need to be raised.

Whether you agree or disagree with the commission’s conclusions that an overhaul of the way public education is funded is a matter for public debate, whether it is the overreliance on property taxes to pay for education, or an examination of wasteful spending. What is not debatable is that the work that he proposes to take place, has already happened.

Mr Rosenthal and other members of the bipartisan commission are to be commended for the extraordinary commitment they made in undertaking this complex and vexing issue.

Mr Lyddy also lays blame on the increase of local property taxes in Newtown at the feet of his opponent Will Rodgers, who has served as the chairman of the Legislative Council. I’m sure he is aware that Mr Rosenthal and the Board of Selectman were controlled by the Democrats until just last year.

Sincerely, One would hope that this sort of divisive, petty, and partisan sniping would be left to the Presidential campaign this fall and not be allowed to crowd out the discourse on our local level. Let’s discuss the facts and not mislay the blame where it does not belong.

Robin Buchanan

15 Little Brook Lane, Newtown October 1, 2008