The Legislative Council faced a moment of truth last week as it considered its reaction to the April 22 drubbing local voters gave to its initial $80 million budget plan. Instead of reacting with avoidance and denial, which is how most of us react when confronted with realities we do not like, it acknowledged public frustration with high taxes and fundamentally shifted Newtown’s strategy for addressing its tax woes. Council members got the message: things have to change –– and not just the numbers in the 2003–2004 budget. It was one of the council’s finest moments.

The budget is a symptom of Newtown’s problem and not the problem itself. While the Legislative Council did make an effort to treat the symptom by cutting a million dollars in spending from both the school and town budgets, it set its sights squarely on the root cause: uncontrolled residential growth.

Having finally put to rest the myth that Newtown’s economic salvation lay in commercial and industrial development (cram the equivalent of eight Sand Hill Plaza’s into Fairfield Hills, and you ruin the town and shave just a mill off the tax rate), the council has resolved to pursue the preservation of Newtown’s remaining open space in earnest. While it removed from its budget proposal $200,000 slated for the open space reserve account, council members committed themselves to a long-term, far-reaching initiative to acquire and preserve land likely to be developed for housing, financed by the issuance of $10 to $20 million in bonds. Think of it this way: the $1 million budget cut is the aspirin; the $10 to $20 million open space plan is part of the long-term cure.

By voting down the budget, Newtown can force the council to hack another $1 million from the budget… and another and another… on into June if it pleases. What will be gained? Each million represents a savings of four-tenths of a mill. We could spend the summer rejecting budgets and taxpayers still would not reap meaningful benefits by squeezing the budget. What we would reap would be more overcrowded classrooms, more town and school buildings in need of repair, and more fees for services rendered by the town and schools. We would also further delay taking the first steps toward Newtown’s long-term recovery and financial health –– a delay we can no longer afford.

Voters must play the leading role in launching Newtown on its course to financial recovery. On May 6, when the amended budget comes back for another referendum vote, the town’s electorate will have option of either rejecting the budget and ordering up more aspirin or endorsing the budget and sending a signal to the council that the town is ready to take on the long-term cure. The latter is the path that will eventually lead our town to financial stability. It is a path we should travel together as a community, so every voter –– not just the 29 percent who showed up at the polls April 22 –– should take the time next Tuesday to help send Newtown on its way to better times.