Opinion: Fairfield RTM Democratic Caucus Fought For Our Children

The following opinion article was written by Elizabeth Zezima, Fairfield RTM Democratic Majority Leader and Representative from District 4:

I am proud of what the Democratic caucus achieved at the May 2nd budget vote. Fairfield voters, for the first time in over 50 years, flipped the majority on the Board of Finance and gave us a mandate to manage the town’s finances. They also maintained our majority on the RTM. They placed their trust in us, especially with an administration that has shown little interest in crafting a budget that properly and transparently funds our town, our schools and provides good return on taxpayer investment.

Sound fiscal policy was delivered. I want to thank the Democrats on the Board of Finance, and Chairwoman Lori Charlton in particular, for the budget they voted on and her excellent presentation at our meeting. It was a brilliantly executed forensic analysis of our budget with every decision her caucus made well justified.

The majority of emails received asked us to approve the budget. But we also acted on behalf of those who asked us to cut education spending. We did not approve any of the appeals presented to us as they would have only added to our tax burden. By supporting our schools, everyone’s investment in this community is strengthened.

We have heard from countless parents and residents who are deeply concerned about the sustained attacks on our schools and our Superintendent.

Since 2013 I have served both on this body and the Board of Finance. I cannot recall one year that the education budget has not come under attack. Even as per pupil spending has fallen from 22nd to 85th in CT, Republicans have accused the BOE of mismanaging funds, and worse. Their books are open for all to see and are regularly audited.

These attacks do not promote bipartisanship. They have contributed to losing two Superintendents. We now must ask taxpayers to fund the costs associated with finding a replacement and the higher salary needed to hire that person.

The Board of Education Central Office is regularly targeted. There are 76 positions serving 1,500 employees and thousands of students. Contrast that with the First Selectwoman’s office where there are four full time Department Head level employees with a combined salary of almost $500,000.

The Communications position in the BOE budget, recommended after an audit, has come under attack due to the amount of overtime needed last year in order to keep residents informed - during a once in a lifetime pandemic. It is almost as if both sides of this caucus are working with a completely different set of facts.

In a post pandemic world, after hearing so much about how our children have suffered mental health consequences, we are now fighting for those children to get the services they need. We put our support behind the needs of students first. It was very disappointing that our Republican colleagues had other priorities.

Our First Selectwoman maintains that the new baseline BOE budget cannot be reduced next year. That is a complete misreading of the CT Statute this claim refers to.

This statute seeks to prevent towns from egregious slashing of education budgets. It provides sound reasons to reduce a budget from the previous year’s level. I am discouraged that our First Selectwoman, a former member of the BOE and the General Assembly, would make such a misleading claim.

Those following the town budget process might be confused by all the rationales Republicans offered as to why they want to restore unnecessary levels of contingency and risk management, contrary to all their previous arguments about overtaxing residents.

The First Selectwoman’s budget has a $9 million-dollar surplus. Combined with Contingency that number is over $11 million. Well in excess of what we need to cover liabilities. This is taxpayer money providing no return on investment. There is no service this money funds. It is tone deaf to the financial struggle many in our town are facing. The BOF made necessary adjustments so that every dollar from taxpayers is invested wisely. We stand by that adjustment and voted against maintaining such excessive waste and overtaxation.

The First Selectwoman asked taxpayers to fund a VERIP program (Voluntary Early Retirement Program) at a cost of $4.6 million dollars. This program reduced our headcount by only 4 employees and yet this year she requested 5 new full-time positions. This is an egregious misuse of taxpayer money.

We were asked to restore a new position to the Human Resources Department. The HR Director, hired by our First Selectwoman 2 years ago, described his own department as the worst he has ever seen. Without meeting a single performance or results metric, he came before 3 voting bodies to ask for more money. Mr. Haselkamp has resigned and therefore will not be leading this department in the new fiscal year. His replacement should be allowed to restructure this department as they fit. And hopefully that person will show his or her employees more respect and better leadership.

The simple takeaway is that the Democratic Caucus fought for our children and sound fiscal policy. The Republican caucus fought for bloated government and slush funds. Our differing priorities, concerns and values could not be more evident.

Elizabeth Zezima
RTM Democratic Majority Leader
Representative, District 4