At 250 pages plus, Newtown taxpayers might be ready to regard First Selectman Dan Rosenthal’s 2019-20 municipal budget proposal as just another spreadsheet that adds up to a little less money in their pockets next year. And to be completely transparent, it does ask for 2.9 percent more in spending than the current year’s plan.

But drilling into the weighty document, it becomes clearer that the first selectman is taking advantage of several opportunities that have aligned recently to craft a proposal that is not only innovative, but lays down groundwork that could help save taxpayers substantially more money in the future.

With the unveiling of this first draft request to the Board of Selectmen January 22, budget season in Newtown has officially begun. Leading up to the annual budget referendum three months and one day later, The Newtown Bee will present weekly analyses of the municipal side of the budget — and the combined town and school proposals once they converge under the Board of Finance and Legislative Council — from both macro and micro perspectives.

Easing into this analysis, and based on Mr Rosenthal’s presentation to fellow selectmen this week, there are a handful of higher profile points that emerge:

*The first selectman is making good on his commitment to try and pivot away from more costly capital bonding — especially spending on projects or hardware whose service life is predictably less than the life of its debt service — and toward fortifying Newtown’s capital nonrecurring account.

This goal, if achieved, would put Newtown on a path where everything from bucket loaders and fire pumpers to pickleball courts and open space acquisitions could be acquired or developed on a “pay as you go” basis, versus saddling taxpayers with 20-year bond interest liabilities markedly higher than the amount Mr Rosenthal is asking taxpayers to invest in annual cap-nonrecurring contributions.

*By design or coincidence, the spending proposal for 2019-20 takes advantage of the departures or retirement of several town employees to consolidate what the first selectman calls “executive functions” of various department heads to achieve increased taxpayer savings.

Read the full feature in this week's print edition of The Newtown Bee - on local newsstands or subscribe by calling 203-426-3141 or by clicking [naviga:u]HERE[/naviga:u].