Why vote for Republicans?

Written by Jim Carroll
Monday, 02 November 2009 06:07

We live in unprecedented times. Often it seems there is so much in modern American life that is beyond our control. Fortunately, we are all privileged to live in a terrific town and this Tuesday you can take action to positively affect the future of Ridgefield.

The Ridgefield Republican Town Committee is proud to promote a slate of candidates for office that offers the experience and skills needed in these troubled times. Holding down taxes was difficult in 2009 and it looks even harder for the future. Last year, we had one-time benefits like declining oil prices for the town and schools. These breaks will not repeat and we will have some significant costs added — like $12 million in pension losses. Last year the town and school trimmed budgets, but if we want to maintain critical programs without paying 4% to 5% tax increases we will need to continue to restructure our costs and contracts to strengthen services and keep Ridgefield affordable.

Last year’s town budget debate highlighted philosophical differences. Democrat-endorsed candidates advocated higher taxes. One brought three cups of coffee from Starbucks to explain that voters should forego their lattes and pay more taxes. All of our opponents now claim fiscal responsibility. But when it counted, Democrats demanded that you pay more while Republicans fought to find ways to save money and retain services.

Such work is not new to Marty Heiser, who has led the Board of Finance for a decade, fighting every step of the way to ensure your money is wisely spent and tax increases held to the bare minimum. Jill Bornstein will add a decade of financial and audit experience from GE and years of dedicated work on volunteer boards such as Ridgefield Academy, Ridgefield Aquatic Club, and buildOn CT.

The team of Russell Katz, Keith Miller, John Palermo and Sandi Rose will return two prior Board of Education chairs and three incumbents to that board. These four have refocused the educational community on ensuring our schools consistently deliver our current programs to prepare students for the 21st Century. They worked diligently to improve cooperation between town agencies, and to cut costs while strengthening programs. The recent teachers contract negotiated, in part, by John Palermo will save us multiple millions of dollars over the next three years compared to the prior contract and it is setting a precedent for other school board negotiations across the state. Our focus is on improving education through execution while our opponents, who have never served on a school board, offer grandiose, unaffordable, and educationally dilutive new programs.

Over the next 12 months the school board will wrestle with how to restructure our elementary schools to ensure we are putting our money into education and not overhead. Mistakes were made with “the bundle” when we added unneeded elementary school rooms. We have 300 fewer students today than in 2003 and an added school that is costing us one to two million dollars a year. This money should be spent on actual education instead. The Republican team brings a track record of more than a dozen years of school board and a century of business management success in strengthening programs while managing costs. Ridgefield needs and deserves their skills.

While the leadership of the town Democrats wants to throw around mud and money, Republicans want to solve problems and move forward. If experienced, sound and representative local government sounds like the right tonic for turbulent times, then please vote row A — and just row A — on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Jim Carroll is chairman of the Republican Town Committee.