I’m Asking You to Support This Budget
I looked at the period of time from 1994-2008 and rated it as a “good” economic period for the US as well as Brookfield. It was the period after the small recession of the late eighties and early nineties but before the large recession (depression?) of late 2008 – 9. I felt the general feeling was that most homeowners felt fairly secure in their lives and this was reflected in their support of the town budgets. I am not insinuating that people did not oppose some of those budgets but, the final decisions ended up being good for the town. They allowed the town to handle the growth in students, the infamous bubble as it was often referred, increased mandates from Hartford as well as the changes in state funding.
Then 2008-2009 happened. Everything that is meaningful to a family’s personal security fell apart. Many lost their jobs, large portions of their retirement savings disappeared and almost everyone lost a large portion of their home value via reduced market prices, key measurements in determining feelings of personal wealth. Since then, the stock market has rebounded and many have gained much of their money back, and unemployment has dropped somewhat, although not nearly enough, but home prices still have not rebounded to anything like the pre-2008 period. The result, not nearly enough residents have gained back that “personal wealth” confidence level. This is a situation that I believe the town should always be aware and I believe this budget takes that into consideration.
On the education side of the budget, the BOF has recommended an increase larger than last year’s budget increase in part to accommodate increased pension contributions requested by the town ( most non-teachers under the BOE budget are covered under the town’s pension plan while the teachers are covered under a state plan) as well as increased medical costs. While we are seeing a larger increase this year for medical costs than was anticipated, the pension costs have been under funded for a number of years. It’s not everything the BOE wanted but, I believe it is an adequate amount to move forward while maintaining a level of funding that the town can afford until more residents attain that “personal wealth” confidence level.
As most homeowners realize, you need to make investments in your home from time to time to maintain it in the appropriate condition. We need to do some of those same things in our town and we are at some serious decision points. The town’s increase is a little larger than normal, driven by higher pension costs (again underfunding ) and the costs of the SRO’s for the schools ( which were placed in the Police budget on the municipal side of the budget) but ,the BOF has also included critical funds needed to be invested in the town just like you would do for your home.
Overall, I am asking you to support this budget, not because of any one thing but, because it considers the entire town’s needs while keeping the spending within some reasonable limits, being fair to all parties and making those important investments in the town we need to keep it a great place to live and raise our children.
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<br/>Now, having said that, I don’t expect everyone to agree with my analysis or conclusions and I apologize if I got too much “into the details”. However, each family has their own situation and some are better or worse than others. Overall, I believe the budget is at a level which I, and hopefully you, will support and takes into consideration those families which still have not fully recovered from the 2008-2009 events. Either way, please express your opinion at the polls and vote on Tuesday May 21st, 2013.
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<br/>Jerry Friedrich
<br/>Chairman, Board of Finance
<br/>Brookfield, Ct
<br/>(Although I am Chairman, these are my personal opinions)
