Project Planning And Budgeting 101

To the Editor:

Thank you Larry Haskel for reminding me of the challenge that the taxpayers of Newtown are facing when it comes to understanding how our town accounts for how its spends our taxes. I am disappointed that still today, even our chairman of Newtown’s Parks and Recreation Commission thinks that the Liberty Fields only cost Newtown $700,000. The actual cost (so far) to Newtown is closer to $1.4 million and still today we have resulting drainage problems that will need to be repaired.

 The $400,000 fund from the Iroquois Gas Company was provided to the town of Newtown and its citizens for the purposes of acquiring or supporting open space. To suggest that by using it to pay for part of the Liberty Field project did not cost the people of Newtown anything is misleading. The fund represented $400,000 of value to the people of Newtown and could have been used for many of the open space initiatives for which we will all pay to support anyway. No matter where it came from, or for which open space project it was assigned, it was $400,000 of our money that should have been spent responsibly. To suggest that the $400,000 had to be used for the Liberty Fields is only an excuse to justify why the fields are ridiculously expensive.

 Along the same line, and on top of the $700,000 and the $400,000 Iroquois fund, you did not mention in your rebuttal the first selectman’s decision to have much of the preparation work done by our own town employees, costing taxpayers over $200,000 in value. If you remember, we had to defer many much-needed projects for which everyone paid taxes and which will have to be done at some point in the near future.

As far as the need for better sources of information, Mr Haskel, let me help you and anyone who is interested: go to The Bee website at www.thebee.com, click on “Top Stories,” then click on “Search Online Archive,” then enter some key words related to the subject you are researching, such as “Amaral property” and then hit “Search.”

Here is a tip that everyone responsible for any town project should understand: when the project is over, if you want to know what the true cost to the people of Newtown is, apply the following formula: Contractor bills + purchase orders + town employee hourly wages/overtime + town employee benefit expense + value of salaried employee time + future tax expense + annual maintenance + petty cash used + supplies + cost of money for any loans + any future anticipated expense = COST.

Of course, if there is potential to generate revenue, that would be part of the formula as well.

Only then will you know the true cost to Newtown taxpayers. Unfortunately, I am not aware of a formula that calculates what you should choose to report or take responsibility for as a town official.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown          June 24, 2002