Christine Brown Running For Fairfield RTM District 9

FAIRFIELD, CT — It's election season in Fairfield, and Patch is here to help you get to know the candidates running for local office in 2021 before voters head to the polls Nov. 2.

Questionnaire responses appear as submitted by candidates.

Democrat Christine Brown, 60, is running for Representative Town Meeting in Fairfield.

Occupation: Business Manager, Black Rock Pilates

Family: I'm married to Rick Brown and have two children, Alex and Lydia, who grew up here in Fairfield and attended our public schools K-12.

Family in government: no

The single biggest issue in town is ______, and I plan to do this about it:

One of the most pressing is the recent 6% budget increase which will impact property taxes dramatically. This reality gets obscured with talk of mill rates and revaluation, but the bottom line is, our budget has increased significantly over last year. And this is at a time when we are receiving $25 million from the federal government in Covid relief funds. Making smart choices about how we allocate our tax money is one of the most important responsibilities of the RTM. I believe we need more scrutiny and oversight of the budget process so that we are making smart long-term investments and pushing back against measures that are advertised as saving us money but in fact, and cost a lot. That scrutiny and oversight is what I intend to bring to the RTM.

Critical differences between me and my opponents:

Candidates in the other party say they're pro-education and anti-tax. With education representing almost 60% of our budget, it's hard to understand how that computes. When ranked by wealth, Fairfield consistently ranks in the top 20 out of 169 municipalities in CT. Yet by 2015, our education spending had dropped from 16th to 89th place. We can debate to what extent spending equates to quality, but there's no debating that dropping from 16 to 89 is unacceptable. We are already losing staff to other districts that pay better. If school spending continues to decline, it’s only a matter of time before our property values are affected. Today, there are major differences between the parties at the local level — on long-term fiscal responsibility, on whether our government should be active or passive in responding to local issues, and on the very structure of our town government. It’s important to look beyond slogans. Forget decades-old party reputations; they no longer apply. Look at the parties' voting records and you’ll see a big difference.

Accomplishments:

My management training and career with IBM prepared me for many of the leadership roles in which I’ve served, including as a Local Leader with Moms Demand Action (a national gun violence prevention group), President and VP roles on town PTA’s, and as senior leader of my church governing board. I have the the values, the intelligence, and and the work ethic that’s needed to be a valuable member of the RTM.

Other issues:

Other important issues include being competitive in our education spending with towns similar to Fairfield; supporting climate initiatives to protect our coastline and our quality of life; and addressing citizen concerns about overdevelopment, noise and speeding. These issues require making smart choices about where we invest our finite resources, and always with an eye toward the long-term.

What else would you like voters to know about you?

I’ve lived in several different parts of the country and in different towns in CT, and I bring a fresh perspective and new ideas. My two children attended Fairfield Public Schools from grades K-12 giving me a broad perspective on our school system, and I’ve been a volunteer with many of their town-wide sports, music, and civic activities. I enjoy serving my community, I’m really excited about this opportunity, and and if elected I can guarantee I'll work hard to listen to and represent the people of District 9.