Submitted by Brian Raabe
The Mayflower Compact of 1620 is seen as one of the earliest examples of collective, self-governance.
Signors affixed their mark, “for the general good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”
It’s about half a page. Interdependence and trust as the path to the great nation we are today.
Anchoring offshore in Massachusetts staring at a deserted shoreline in November sharpens the mind, and the need for community.
The recent actions of the Republican BET run counter to this earliest American spirit of e pluribus unum.
A lot has been written about the school budget debacle.
The Republicans call opposition “histrionics” and “theatre.” That with $8 million of the $12 million budget increase provided, “there has to be padding” to reduce spending by $4 million. Given how the BET has handled this, one can imagine there will be padding in the future.
Even some of their own have blinked over the outcome https://greenwichfreepress.com/letter-to-the-editor/alfano-arora-jansen-cappiali-a-targeted-interim-fix-to-preserve-high-school-start-times-232060/
But this is bigger than the school budget. This is about interdependence and whether Greenwich is a town that embodies community – in the form of shared services – or not.
Starting with a mill rate of 12.041 for the fiscal year ahead.
To quote the Greenwich Time, “In the current fiscal year, Greenwich’s mill rate of 11.712 is only higher than Salisbury’s rate of 11. Salisbury is a small town in Litchfield County with fewer than 5,000 residents, according to the 2020 census.”
In Greenwich we have elected officials whose raison dêtre is this sacrosanct mill rate, a rate so low it is rivaled only by a town of 5,000 whose claim to fame was the iron ore used to produce armaments in the American Revolution. (By comparison we have nearly 3,000 students in GHS alone).
This from Harry Fisher, the BET Chair and tie breaking vote for cutting school funding in a Patch interview https://patch.com/connecticut/greenwich/greenwich-2023-election-profile-harry-fisher-bet
“Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ____, and this is what I intend to do about it.
The single most pressing issue facing the residents of Greenwich is maintaining the town’s low tax rate in the face of increasing operating and capital needs. Republicans have a well-established track record over many decades of doing just that, and we will continue to have a disciplined approach to spending, and borrowing for capital projects.
What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?
Democrats want to increase spending on operating and capital budgets, burdening the taxpayers with higher taxes over the short and long terms.”
That’s it, that’s the entirety of the BET Chair’s platform.
The knowledge of increasing “operating and capital needs” – but we aren’t going to budge on the low mill rate.
I can only speak for myself when I say I don’t turn in each night and before flipping the light switch think, “Thank goodness for my low mill rate…it’s my number one issue.”
Leadership is not ensuring that town spending drips from the garden hose on a 90-degree day.
You see, it isn’t that we can’t have nice things.
It’s that the Republican led BET is willing to say the quiet part out loud.
“We care more about preserving a mill rate that is similar to a town that produced iron ore in the American Revolution than we do about town services.”
Schools?
An elder care facility (Witherell) that isn’t under constant threat of defunding or privatization?
Ice rink?
Adequate staffing so we aren’t blowing a collective $16 million on overtime and temporary staff?
(Yes, that’s a real number, $16 million for temps and OT, 4X the school budget cut).
Instead, if duct tape was good enough to bring home Apollo 13, its good enough for the Town of Greenwich.
Of course the reply to the thinking in this letter will be, “Just another tax and spend Democrat.”
No.
An independent – 40% of this town is registered independent.
A town that wants educated kids, great parks, maybe an ice rink.
A Town that isn’t firing people with 15-plus years of experience.
Nice things.
A town that knows the difference between conservative financial management and slum lord budgeting.
In November act as a small boat of colonists did over 400 years ago.
Vote for community.