Opinion: Time For Governance, Not Politics

On March 31st, the Fairfield Board of Finance (BOF) approved the town budget for the upcoming fiscal year. There were a number of changes made by the BOF from what was submitted by the First Selectwoman (FSW), and I believe all of the adjustments made by the BOF improved the budget, were in the best interest of the town, and were made in the spirit of good governance.

In response, the FSW and many of her political allies are claiming foul. They have appealed many of the BOF’s changes, claiming that the changes made by the BOF were unprecedented and reckless, but neither is true. Their claims are sadly both hypocritical and hyperbolic. They are playing politics instead of governing.

Three cases in point:

1) CONTINGENCY: The contingency account provides a cushion for the town for unforeseen expense. This year, the budget request for contingency was almost $2.8MM. After thorough due diligence, the Democratic-controlled BOF cut the contingency by $350K or roughly 12.6%. The FSW claimed this was both reckless and unprecedented, but that’s simply not true. In 2020, the Republican-controlled BOF cut the contingency by $700K, which was a 70% cut. In 2017, the Republican-controlled RTM cut the contingency by $850, which was also a 70% cut.

2) HEADCOUNT: The FSW requested five new headcount for the upcoming year. Four of the five were approved. The FSW was appalled at the audacity of the cut as if it were rare, and as if were an attack on her personally — which it was not. In fact, it would be rare to approve all new headcount requests. Historically, the Republican-controlled BOF and RTM have consistently made cuts to headcount requests over the years.

3) RISK MANAGEMENT: Inevitably, the Town incurs expenses related to disability and general liability claims and plans for it in the budget. If actual claims are less than forecasted, the leftover is set aside for the future in an Internal Service Fund (ISF). In recent years, the leftover in the ISF has grown to $6.0MM. With $6.0MM to work with, and $850K forecasted for claims this year (7x coverage), the Democratically-controlled BOF felt that it was neither necessary nor appropriate to charge the Fairfield taxpayers to further build the ISF reserve.

In the end, I’m confident that the BOF has improved this budget. Take much of the hyperbole and misinformation with a grain of salt. Fairfield needs good governance, not politics.