Dunn says supporters will campaign to get budget approved

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – First Selectman Steve Dunn says if you’re going to get a municipal budget approved in May – particularly one with a higher-than-usual 5.1 percent tax increase - you have to campaign for it as you do to get your slate elected in November.

Since he announced three years ago that he would run for Brookfield’s top elected position, Dunn and the other Democratic candidates in the 2015 and 2017 municipal elections have won outright all the municipal offices that they ran for. The town has a Democratic treasurer and Democratic town clerk for the first time in ages.

“You’ve got to call on a lot of people,” Dunn, a Democrat, said of the efforts to get the proposed $67.4 million budget approved for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The plan is expected to be sent to that referendum on Tuesday, May 1, starting at 7 p.m. during the annual town meeting at Brookfield High School. The town-wide vote will likely be held on May 15.

The package allocates $43.0 for education. The town government services would receive $24.4, with $1.3 million of that going to capital projects and $4.1 million for debt service.

Spending would increase 4.1 percent and taxes would go up 5.1 percent.

Dunn, who was initially elected in 2015, said the town has averaged a 2.475 percent tax increase over the last four years.

He said there are groups poised to sponsor phone banks and distribute lawn signs to help get the municipal budget approved.

He noted that about two-thirds of the budget is for education and hopes that a higher-than-usual turnout of parents will go to the polls and support the package.

Dunn, a former vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase said there is “a certain population that will go against the budget no matter what the increase is.”

“I think if every voter in Brookfield voted, our budgets would pass easily,” he said.

Dunn said that he is comfortable with having the town government services and education budgets considered separately under the charter revision that was approved in 2014.

“It gives people more of way to tell the town the way things should be,” he said. Under the previous format the complete municipal budget was considered as one item.

Critics have said the bifurcated format could divide the town since voters might, for example, focus on defeating the education spending proposal since they might not have children in the schools.

Dunn said much of the increase this year is due to dwindling state municipal aid as a result of Connecticut’s continuing fiscal crisis and the addition of 12 special education students in the school district since the budget for the current fiscal year was approved last spring.

He said special education costs “inordinately” impact smaller school districts, such as Brookfield’s, which has a longstanding reputation for providing sterling special education services.

Dunn said the state reimbursement for special education costs “doesn’t kick in” until a district has reached four times “your average spending.”

He proposed that the “state cover all” special education costs and “protect towns from people who will shop for special education.”

Dunn said one group that sometimes spurns budgets are senior citizens who often live on fixed incomes.

Brookfield established a senior citizen tax deferral system in 2005 under then- First Selectman Jerry Murphy.

Dunn said a committee is currently reviewing the plan and is expected to deliver a report this spring.

“Do we have the right plan?’ he said regarding the considerations. “Is it the right income limits? Are we reaching the right people?”

On a related topic, Dunn said some people want to apply the town’s fund balance toward lowering taxes in a difficult year.

He said one resident recently produced a list of 20 municipalities and each of them had a fund balance of at least 10.5 percent.

Since Dunn took office, the fund balance, which had declined to 1.9 percent before he arrived has climbed to 8.1 percent. He said he hopes it will be at least at 10 percent in two years and will be maintained between 10 and 12 percent in the future so Brookfield can improve its bond rating. He said that the rating agencies are seeking at least a 12 percent fund balance for the AAA rating – the highest available.

He said Brookfield will likely be in a better positon to address tax increases and further boost its bond rating in about four years, since he estimates that $30 million to $ 80 million of new commercial development will come to Federal Road, much of it in the 198-acre Town Center of Brookfield near the Four Corners intersection.

He said under the municipal tax abatement ordinance a number of the developers will be able to have a 75 percent abatement the first year – which declines to 60, 40, 20 and 10 percent before they pay full taxes in the sixth year.

“I wouldn’t have done the tax abatement work the way that we did,” said Dunn, who indicated that he would have chosen only a 60 percent abatement during the first year with declines in the subsequent years.

He said a municipal study indicated that under President Donald Trump’s tax cut, about seven percent of the housing units in Brookfield might be impacted by the limit of $10,000 in federal tax deductions on state and local taxes. Thus, he believes that provision will have limited, if any, impact on Brookfield’s property values.

“You will see more impact in the wealthier towns, such as Greenwich and New Canaan,” Dunn explained.

On another topic, Dunn said he endorses the 68-page report that was presented in March by the state Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Competitiveness.

Among the recommendations from the 14-member panel were a revision of the state’s tax structure, a $15 an hour minimum wage, more opportunities for municipalities to generate tax revenue and changes in collective bargaining.

“They did a good job of balancing all of the factors,” said Dunn.

“It’s not perfect for Brookfield,” said Dunn. “It’s not perfect for any town. One plan will not fit every town.”

The report has the support of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the state realtors group. The General Assembly has not taken any action on the recommendations.

On a separate subject, in early April U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-5) of Cheshire announced that she would not seek a fourth term after it was reported that she had mishandled the resolution of a sexual harassment case regarding her former chief of staff.

She presided over the administering of the oath of office for Dunn for his second term last December and also handled those duties for some of the elected municipal officials in 2015 when Dunn was initially taking office.

Former Greenwich First Selectman Roger Pearson has said you should be careful about what you are remembered for, noting that former President Lyndon Johnson signed impressive civil rights measures but has been mostly remembered for his escalation of the Vietnam War.

“She had a lapse in judgment,” said Dunn of Esty’s recent travails. “However, I hope that it is not all that she is remembered for.”

“She has done a really good job for our district,” he said. “She fought for a lot of the issues that impact us.”