To the Editor:

Vote to eliminate the Board of Finance from the Charter so that it can be reformed as an appointed commission. This is an ideal evolution and improvement to our town government.

It’s been established that the Legislative Council (LC) is and has been the fiscal authority in Newtown, and that the Board of Finance (BOF) has been an advisory body that makes recommendations to the LC.

There’s also been heightened recognition of significant redundancy in processes between the BOF and the LC across many actions that each group is involved with (ie, reviewing the town budget, the CIP, approving appropriations and transfers, acceptance of grants, and many more). These actions often require a literal duplication of efforts for the BOF and LC, typically just days or weeks apart.

This is also true of the BOF’s role in writing/reviewing town financial policy: once the BOF finishes, the LC must review, revise, and approve all of it. This work could be effectively completed by either group. Having both makes for a slow and unnecessarily repetitive process. This is NOT to say there hasn’t been highly valuable work completed by the BOF, both on its own and in conjunction with LC. Our town is blessed with a strong team of talented volunteers.

With all of this in mind, the BOF should be removed from its duplicative role and be reconstituted as an appointed commission focused on writing/reviewing and recommending policy, and potentially providing recommendations on the long-term debt and financial planning for the town.

For this evolution to take place, the BOF should first be eliminated from the Charter — for now. Vote Yes on Question #2. For practical implementation it is cleaner and more efficient to first eliminate the BOF from the Charter. Following the conclusion of this current election term, the LC could then establish a newly appointed Finance Committee/Commission. This is a “next step” beyond the Charter action, but it is based on positive intent and tangible action.

The LC has already begun the process of enabling the creation of this new group, pending the outcome of the referendum. Once the role of the new Finance group is established and its value inevitably recognized, the group could be recast as a town commission. This could be an appointed group of finance professionals, policy experts, and current BOF members who are recruited, interviewed, and appointed by the LC and town.

This new Finance Committee/Commission would work much like other highly valued appointed town committees/commissions/boards, each one stacked with content experts (eg, the Pension Committee, Employee Medical Benefits Board, the Economic Development Commission, Board of Ethics, Public Building and Site Commission, Sustainable Energy Commission, etc).

Vote to eliminate the current Board of Finance from the Charter so it can evolve and be recast as an appointed commission.

Thank you,

Paul Lundquist — Former member, past Chairman of the Legislative Council

Newtown