The following two letters are asking Fairfield voters to vote "no" for bonding $350,000 for a softball field project at Hoyden's Lane in Fairfield. The referendum, to confirm or overturn the RTM''s decision to approve the bond, is set for August 12. The letters were submitted by resident Joseph WItko and RTM member Kathryn Braun.
Wow! Only 92.5 cents per year for each Fairfield taxpayer to finance a $350,000 ball field. What a bargain or is it? Accumulated interest over 15 years paid monthly, like a typical house mortgage, at 3.22 percent interest totals $91,763. Still doesn't sound too threatening? Well, let's add to that just a few other obligations which may be uncertain at this time but still point to a disturbing financial future on a local and state level.
Fairfield's pension contribution of $2.9 million this current year is nearly twice as much as it was last year. What will it be next year with town and school personnel retiring at exorbitant pension levels and with an up-and-down investment market? And note that the state's pensions are underfunded by $15.9 billion! Where do you think that money will come from eventually?
Adding to Fairfield's problems is a current $4.5 million deficit in its Internal Service Fund that provides cash for health insurance, workman's compensation, liability and property claims, etc. Guess what is going to happen to health insurance costs once mandates from the new federal medical plan become fully effective.
Then there are the federal relief funds and grants (our taxpayers' dollars at work) that are beginning to disappear with the risk of starving future town and state budgets for improvement projects and educational support. Local taxpayers ultimately will be responsible for filling that potential gap.
Vote "NO" on Thursday Aug. 12 to bond the $350,000 ball field. Our current economic conditions certainly don't warrant the cost and future obligations don't justify the risk at this time.
Joseph Witko
Please Vote on Fairfield's Referendum Thursday, Aug. 12
The Referendum on Aug. 12 is a rare chance for voters to have direct input into out Town's spending and borrowing. I support the Referendum and urge all registered voters to vote "NO" on borrowing $350,000 for a sports facility on Hoyden's Lane. Here's why: the majority of our town's taxpayers are extremely worried about the steady increase in our property taxes in a prolonged national recession and the need to maintain critical government services while restricting spending and borrowing. This is the mandate we were given last November.
In May the RTM reduced the Fire and Police departments' budget request by almost $100k combined and turned down $250k of bonding for a public school bathroom renovation to make it handicapped compliant; teachers took a zero percent increase for the new budget year; and the Board of Education budget request was reduced by $3 million. In July the RTM turned down the Fire Department and Town Hall employees union contracts.
Before you even get to the issue of whether a new ball field is needed, you have to answer a threshold question, which is: do ball fields have the same priority as first responders, teachers, education and handicapped facilities? If the answer is 'no', you need go no further.
Even if you do consider ball fields a higher priority than first responders and teachers, the Parks & Recreation Department has not justified borrowing money for a new field. The Parks & Recreation Department has not provided data on actual field usage, only on allocation, and its records show several fields are already allocated to each of the three Little League organizations, including girls softball. Parks & Recreation Department data shows a 14 percent drop in numbers of ball players using Town fields over the past eight years. The Little League teams have done well using available fields and we salute them. But until the Parks & Recreation Department updates its 14-year-old field survey to show absolute need, our town should not to use public funds and public land to build new fields.
In the midst of the national recession, the loss of 125,000 jobs in the U.S. economy during June alone, and the State's worsening fiscal crisis, Fairfield's fiscal officer has warned that next year's budget looks 'worse', and several big school projects are coming up. According to news reports, a 'capital planning summit' is planned for late August to deal with our Town's debt issues.
The Town Charter affords Voters the right to hold a Referendum on issues of borrowing and spending. All registered voters should vote on Aug. 12 from 12-8 p.m. at your usual polling places. If you want to hold the line on our Town's deficit spending on items not proven to be either a critical government service or absolutely necessary at this time, the fiscally responsible choice is to vote "NO" on Aug. 12 for the bonding of $350,000 for a sports facility on Hoyden's Lane.
Kathryn Braun, RTM District 8
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