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Letters Oppose Softball Field Funding

The following letters to the editor were submitted by Fairfield residents Karen Sussman and Jane Talimini on the upcoming referendum on funding for a softball field and park at town-owned property on Hoyden's Lane. The RTM has approved $350,000 for the project.  At least 25 percent of the town's registered voters  must vote in favor for the funding to be rejected.

INAPPROPRIATE.  DISRESPECTFUL.  These are two words that describe the $350,000 that the RTM narrowly approved to construct a dedicated girls softball field and facilities on the open space property owned by the town on Hoyden’s Lane.

It is INAPPROPRIATE for the town to bond $350,000 on a non-essential recreational facility given the current state of the economy. Fairfield's annual debt service rose from 7.3 percent of the annual budget in 2002-03 to 10.8 percent of the annual budget in 2009-10. The annual debt service is scheduled to rise another $4.3 million by the 2014-15 fiscal year. I do not spend money that I do not have, especially on recreational items, and the Town of Fairfield should not either. Spending money that we don't have greatly contributed to the economic crisis that we are currently facing.

It is DISRESPECTFUL to bond $350,000 for a recreational facility when the Fairfield teachers took a 0 percent raise, over $193,000 was cut from the town's operating budget, $3 million was cut from the education budget by the Board of Selectmen, $250,000 was cut for a bathroom renovation at Dwight Elementary School that would have made the bathrooms ADA compliant, and $75,000 was cut for a new roof at the homeless shelter run by Operation Hope.

Scheduling may be difficult, but the girls have not been denied access to current field space. Continued bonding of such non-essential projects may deny these very same girls the chance to ever raise their own families in Fairfield due to the increased tax burden these projects will bring to the town.

Tell your elected officials that enough is enough. Show up and vote NO to the referendum, Aug. 12, 2010, from 12 noon to 8 p.m. at your regular polling place.

-      Karen Sussman

 

 

On Thursday, August 12, Registered Republicans, Democrats and Independents  must vote NO on the Referendum for $350,000 to build a field for girls  softball at their usual voting locations.

Why? Because bonding, which raises taxes, should be reserved for essential items  such as schools, police cars, fire engines, teachers' salaries. All of these items  serve the entire community (Police, Fire and the Board of Education, among others, all suffered  significant budget cuts when the town budget was finalized earlier this year). The  ball field, a nonessential item, would serve only a specialized group of 350 young  people, and should be financed through the budgetary process of the Parks and  Recreation Department.  Furthermore, times are tough for many Fairfield citizens. I have two  friends who have had to get reverse mortgages on their houses in order to remain in  Fairfield. Another friend, in his 60s, was laid off some months ago. No job in sight.  Health insurance for himself and his family runs out at the end of August. None of these  folks wants taxes to go up even one dime. These are scary times.

And the town wants to bond $350,000 for a softball  field!  We need fiscal restraint, fiscal responsibility. The ball field will come to  pass, but bonding is not the way to go.

Vote No on August 12.

Sincerely,

Jane K. Talimini

 

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