Joseph DiCandido

(R)

 

Personal Information: Newtown resident since 1997; married, father of three children, four grandchildren; Newtown Legislative Council, two years; president and founder of Nutek Aerospace Corporation; member of St Rose of Lima Parish; member of the Board of Directors and vice president of the Military Museum of Southern New England; BS in Civil Engineering, City College of New York.

What personal qualities do you have that you believe will benefit the Legislative Council and the community it serves? Effective communicator; leads by example; focused on achieving results; inspires and guides others towards achieving their goals; maintains a high standard of personal and professional conduct; has worked effectively with the existing Legislative Council.

What do you believe is the council’s biggest challenge over the next two years? Finding a way to control the ever-increasing cost of town-provided services.

Providing the leadership necessary to reach a consensus to proceed with the development of Fairfield Hills in a way that will not overburden the tax payers of our town.

The council must reappoint a Charter Revision Commission to review and eliminate the confusion that exists in the present charter with respect to the duplication of effort between the Legislative Council and the Board of Finance. It will be the council’s responsibility to help streamline the budget process.

With the demographic shift in population (baby boomers reaching retirement age), it will become exceedingly more difficult to obtain voter approval for future budget proposals. The challenge for the council will be to present a budget proposal to the tax payers that they believe is fair and balanced and in the best interest of all the townspeople.

What can the Legislative Council do to limit the growth of Newtown’s tax rate? I believe that our current local, state, and federal fiscal problems are not the result of inadequate tax revenues, but are the consequences of unrestrained spending at all levels of government. The council’s first and most important obligation to the taxpayers is to reduce the rate of spending.

The council must approve legislative policies that will aggressively pursue and encourage the acquisition of open space.

We must enact favorable legislative policies that will attract new businesses that best meet the needs of Newtown, such as professional services, commercial establishments, and light industry.

The council must enact legislative policies that will attract new senior citizens to Newtown while encouraging our seniors to remain in town.