Finance Board Should Push For

Planning

To the Editor:

The Board of Finance has done a good job maintaining our credit rating. But they have failed to make an effective call for systemic change, allowing the Capital Improvement Plan to become the town’s de facto planning tool in the absence of a truly comprehensive planning mechanism. And even this process has been circumvented at times. Why? As a financial professional, my clients always plan 15 to 20 years into the future, developing a road map for achieving their goals.

Without such planning in place, Newtown seems to be adrift. Projects are put forward that may or may not lead to our desired goals. A long-range plan would require us to come together and decide who we are as a town. What are the needs we must anticipate and what nonessential but desired amenities can we afford? Until a comprehensive plan addresses these questions, we will continue to spend more than we should and get less of what we need.

During 14 years in the Navy, I have commanded several hundred service men and women. We constantly plan for all possible contingencies. I have learned that plans are living entities, evolving over time. Surprises occur! But, if we plan well using all our resources, something unexpected is far less likely to happen.

The Fairfield Hills parking lot deal I wrote about last month (also discussed this week by Po Murray and Benjamin Roberts) provides a perfect example. Inadequate planning meant we lacked funds for a permanent lot and time for the appropriations process to raise them. A temporary lot was proposed, but that money would have been wasted since a permanent lot would soon be required.

So a last minute deal amended the lease to have the NYA borrow money and build the lot. Even this cost us more than a well-planned project, since they borrowed at six percent while the town’s cost of funds was 4.5 percent. And since the project was rushed, no competitive bidding took place.

Had I been on the Board of Finance, I would have used this affair to reinforce calls for a comprehensive planning process. You hear many candidates echoing this long-held IPN position today, but this was not the case until recently. Even now, as the lack of planning is increasingly evident (see Benjamin Roberts’ 10/8 Bee letter [“Finance Board Frustrations,” Letter Hive, 10/9/09]), the board’s response to this fundamental failure is not strong enough. It’s not their job to do this planning work, but I would lobby aggressively for the work to be done by the town so the board has a road map to guide its decisions.

We need strong voices throughout our government. Acting as a rubber stamp, saying it’s “not our responsibility” and making occasional complaints, but failing to back them up with calls for action, have been commonplace. IPN leadership will end such complacency, resulting in better governance for our town and wiser use of our precious tax dollars. See www.IPN2009.org for more information and please vote the Independent line on Election Day.

William McNerney

IPN Candidate for the Board of Finance

20 Fawnwood Road, Sandy Hook                          October 20, 2009