Republican Contenders Want Coordination, Cooperation, Lower Debt Cap

By John Voket

Local top of ticket Republican candidates Patricia Llodra and Will Rodgers prioritize the town’s financial health and security as the most significant issue facing the town. In a position paper released to The Bee October 13, the pair say a comprehensive examination of all financial practices, and a willingness to make changes to achieve greater stability in the mill rate could result in less reliance upon residential property taxes.

“Everything has to be on the table, and everyone must share a commitment to delivering the best services in the most cost-efficient and effective way possible,” Ms Llodra reiterated in a follow-up interview. “We need to establish a new, shared, community financial philosophy.”

Since revenues come from federal funds, state funds, and local taxes, and it is unlikely federal and/or state funding for municipalities such as Newtown will increase, the GOP candidates say Newtown should not plan on more, but just the opposite.

If the town is to be even more reliant on its own capacity to generate the revenue required for the delivery of core services, the candidates would seek greater contribution from the commercial/industrial sector would help to offset reliance on residential property tax.

“Right now, the commercial/industrial sector contributes about 7.7 percent to our total grand list,” Ms Llodra said, adding that growth has to be smart and controlled, “consistent with our cultural and societal values.”

“Streetscape projects such as the one in Sandy Hook have returned $8 for every dollar invested,” Ms Llodra said. “The same streetscape approach can be applied to other districts such as Hawleyville and Botsford.” She also pointed to the town’s ongoing investment in open space, which provides a value-added return of 300 percent.

With insurance costs topping 13 percent of the community’s total expenditures, Ms Llodra and Mr Rodgers say they will explore moving to self-insurance for medical coverage.

“The town was self-insured years ago for much the same reasons we should consider today,” Ms Llodra said. The GOP candidates, if elected, will also weigh the benefits of changing the town’s pension plan from a program of fully defined benefits to defined contributions to affect greater stability and predictability in budget development while reducing the potential for unexpected legacy payments.

“And we should implement better risk avoidance strategies to reduce our exposure to worker compensation liabilities,” Ms Llodra said “Our goal is not to decrease coverage or support for employees, but to develop systems that enable the employer to better control and predict costs.”

Advocating the continuance of the town’s practice of aggressively paying down debt, or “paying as you go,” Ms Llodra and Mr Rodgers also are taking a stand on the planned and gradual reduction in the town’s debt limit from the current ten percent to a more beneficial eight percent.

“Less debt equals more available resources and greater capacity to meet needs and deliver services,” Ms Llodra said. Ms Llodra believes taxpayers will accept a more patient, moderate approach to capital spending, “particularly as an effective planning process will be in place and its communication to our residents is improved.”

The GOP contenders also favor expanding regional cooperatives for services and purchasing as a worthy objective. Among options the GOP candidates would consider are regionalizing contacts for energy, common supplies, and services such as revaluation and even dispatching of emergency services. At the same time, the pair would expect collaboration and cooperation across town and educational agencies.

Ms Llodra and Mr Rodgers support sharing resources such as personnel, tools, equipment, and technology and expand collaboration on purchasing, capital expense planning, and annual budgeting, along with restructuring or consolidating town/school maintenance departments and programs as is happening in other Connecticut districts.

“Much of this new synergy is especially possible now that most affected departments are housed in the same municipal building,” Ms Llodra pointed out.

Finally, expenses related to Fairfield Hills will be integrated into a Llodra/Rodgers spending plan, and subject to the same public scrutiny and approval processes as are all other aspects of the operating and capital budgets.

“More so than even other spending areas, costs related to development of Fairfield Hills must be justified and should be on a pay-as-you-go schedule as much as is possible,” the Republican candidates believe, adding they will host public forums to assess the town-owned facility’s plan of development as part of addressing public spending there going forward.     

Saying “change is good,” the GOP leadership, if elected, pledge to maintain the quality of services and goods needed by the community while aggressively implementing cost-containment measures and seeking greater value for every dollar spent.

“Not revolutionary change, but evolutionary changes to bring more bang for our tax dollars to ensure that we and future citizens do not have to pay for our reluctance to evolve our financial philosophy,” the GOP candidates conclude.