Wilton Election: Stewart Koenigsberg For Board Of Finance

WILTON, CT — The state Municipal Election is Tuesday, Nov. 2.

Patch contacted candidates to answer questions about their campaigns.

Republican Stewart Koenigsberg, 62, is running for Board of Finance in Wilton.

Occupation: Board Member, Advisor, Retired Ge Company Officer

Family:My three children all attended Wilton’s excellent schools, and attended Bucknell University. I have been a Wilton resident since 1989.

Experience: Board of Finance

Family in government: No

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

We need to continue to improve our excellent schools and town services and offerings at well managed reasonable costs to taxpayers, while maintaining our AAA bond rating for town infrastructure. We also need to vigilantly guard against challenges by Hartford politicians, and which would bring financial hardships on the town and its taxpayers.

Critical differences between me and my opponents:

I have served on the Wilton Board of Finance for the past four years, where I have very actively advocated for continuous improvement in our schools and town services at the most reasonable costs to taxpayers, I spent my career as a GE Company Officer, career senior financial executive, CEO/CFO and board member of public, private and non profit enterprises, and I have brought significant depth and insights to the Board of Finance for the past four years.

As the former President & CEO of GE Capital Markets where I led GE’s capital markets activities worldwide, I have dealt extensively with rating agencies, and as a long time CFO at a number of GE businesses, and previously head of Financial Planning & Analysis at GE Capital, and as a public company board member as well as having served on other for profit and not for profit boards, I have very significant experience that I believe is helpful for the Wilton Board of Finance. The Board of Finance is an oversight function that provides an appropriate check and balance for other branches of town government. The members of the BOF should have a skill set which includes financial and budgeting experience, willingness to spend significant time in the detail of town spending and budgets, and independence in raising issues to the BOE and BOS. I defined my role on the Board of Finance as an advocate for taxpayers interested in keeping taxes stable while improving the centerpiece of the town, which is the excellent school system, and as well as other town services and offerings. I am a proponent of further developing town center to further improve and augment options for residents.

Accomplishments:

Having served the town of Wilton on the Board of Finance for the past four years, I have gained a very detailed understanding of how to best balance the needs of the town’s constituency and how to get there at reasonable costs to taxpayers. That understanding comes from a very detailed evaluation of line by line cost items, and countless hours of experience with officials and research. We have very successfully managed to improve schools and town services, beat back encroachment from Hartford’s efforts to control our schools and siphon Wilton taxpayer funds, and keep tax increases extremely low while receiving wide spread recognition that our schools have improved, including most recently from the US News & World report upgrading Wilton schools ranking to the sixth best in the State of Connecticut, from eleventh. We found a way to properly prioritize spending to improve in a cost effective way. I spent my career as a CFO, CEO, financial executive and board of directors member, where I applied the same principles in forward looking cost effectiveness to achieve goals. I have poured through budgets, contracts, and spending and performance data for Wilton as well as other towns in order to make informed decisions. I have worked with school administrators, and Board of Education members and Board of Selectman members in order to execute on my responsibility to best control and optimize taxpayer spending.

Other issues:

My platform is simply to provide the best possible oversight on the Board of Finance to allow Wilton town services to continue to improve in the most cost effective way. I have the experience and commitment to carefully consider spending, rating agency requirements, and long term capital spending and a mindset to act upon the wants and needs of the town’s taxpayers.

What else would you like voters to know about you?

I welcome your input on how to best serve our town.