A Reasonable Compromise

To the Editor:

I fervently hope that this budget will pass, and I will be voting Yes on Tuesday. I hope you will too! I think this budget will pass if we have a large voter turnout. I believe this to be true because this additional $200,000 or 0.3 percent increase (yes, that is decimal 3 percent) in the school budget is a reasonable compromise, and I believe reasonable people will recognize it as such. But this compromise will only come about if people in this community go to the polls to vote.

Please understand that I do believe class sizes will increase, teachers will be laid off, EAs will be laid off, but we are beyond that now. Now is the time to bring together various people in this community with varied interests and move forward. This is what the Legislative Council was attempting to do when they voted to add $200,000 to the school budget. $200,000 will save some teachers’ jobs and will improve our schools from the most recently rejected budget.

This must be a good and reasonable compromise because no one is happy. School supporters like myself were hoping for more money for our schools. Others are not happy because taxes will increase, but only modestly.

Unfortunately, even though the $200,000 represents a total budget increase of only 0.2 percent, some wish to see this budget fail. There appears to be a political faction pushing a No vote for purely political reasons. The Legislative Council voted for this budget by a margin of 8 to 1 in response to all the voters. That is what democracy is all about. Yet this political group refuses to accept this compromise and wishes to create turmoil simply for turmoil’s sake. I have yet to read why a 0.2 percent increase in the budget justifies a rejection of this budget. But I do believe the majority of our town sees this budget as reasonable and this will be borne out by the majority coming out to vote on Tuesday.

Please vote Yes on Tuesday.

Charles Hepp

4 Winter Ridge Road, Sandy Hook                                   June 2, 2010