Resident Quotes from Board of Finance Information Session

*Editor's Note: The quotes listed and paraphrased below were taken from the Board of Finance Budget Information Session held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 9. Click for a full recap of that meeting and to view the BOF's powerpoint presentation that accompanied it.

Michael Graupner

• "If it is your intent to educate the public, which is a good idea, I think at these meetings you need to point out that roughly $70 million that goes to the schools essentially, by law, is not going to go down. We're not starting from scratch this year...what we're discussing here is how much, if at all, the [school budget] is going to increase."
• "Any citizen in this town can write a big old check...every citizen can write a check if they so choose and they will raise millions of dollars [for the causes they believe in]...but the point is let them know that if they're unhappy with something in the schools, they can write a check to fix it."
• Question: "We always seem to want to compare ourselves to other towns [in terms of mill rates, school systems, etc.]. As financiers, what is the significance of that? Why should we care?
• Answer (Andy Pforzheimer): "It's a gut check...you always want to make sure if you're a deviant, there's a reason. We have services, especially in the schools, where we're very aware of not wanting to have people say 'I'm going to live there instead of here because this is better than that.' I think, yes, we are in a competitive situation with others towns in that respect."

Marilyn Gould

• "In today's reality...every household is having to do more with less. I am hoping that the two boards...will consider finding ways to do more with less. We shouldn't be talking about raising the taxes, raising the cost of providing our government at all levels...I hope the world will get to the two boards to learn to do more with less."

Kim Nabulsi

• Question: "Is this the first year you've done the [three-year] model?"

• Answer (Lynne Vanderslice): "We did the model for one year last year. This is the first year we've forecasted out more than one year and this is the first year we're having these meetings this early in the process."

Alex Riskevich

• "Today, Connecticut made the list on the Internet as one of the ten worst states for retirees. In fact, Conn. is number three in the country for highest taxes. I don't think you want to be number one on this particular list."

Ken Dartley

• "I would ask the board to consider, when they receive the information that they're going to get...the avenues by which the information is flowing to you. The schools and the school board gets the drumbeat going early...unfortunately, we don't have the same for the senior citizens who are trying to stay in town. Consider that when you receive the flow of information."
• When asked to clarify his statement, Dartley referred to senior citizens' difficulty using email as a communication tool and also referred to a "publication in town that has hired someone to lobby on behalf of the schools."

Elizabeth Etzbach

• Etzbach was the first and only attendee (outside of some town officials in attendance) to thank the Board of Finance for conducting the information sessions.
  

• In response to Dartley's comment, Etzbach said that she did not agree that the board should place extra weight on someone's comments who said they were speaking on behalf of a group that could not openly express itself. Rather, Etzbach said that each individual's resident should be considered and weighed equally.

Dr. Gary Richards, Superintendent of Wilton Schools

• "I'd like to thank you for doing this...I think you've framed the questions as something we all have to consider as residents...we have a lot questions that we need to ask ourselves as to what kind of community do we need to have and what are we willing to pay to have that kind of community."

Judy Zucker

• "How can people involve themselves prior to the public hearing? Your work sessions, your budget deliberations would be so helpful for people to listen to to understand how you reach the decisions you do...I wish somehow you could encourage people to visit you and listen to those work sessions. Those are not really publicized too much."
• Answer (Warren Serenbetz): "Our meetings are all on the web. Every meeting that has a quorum, if it's in Room B, is televised."