Don’t look now, but Branford is one of the best run towns in the state. We boast a healthy savings account, our pensions are funded. We recently completed the annual audit, and all is not just well, but very well. Towns across the state often ask for advice from Branford leaders and finance professionals on how the towns money is managed. They are professionals, and that professional leadership has allowed the town to have one of the lower mill rates along the shoreline while also being a leader in services and infrastructure improvements.
In the last decade the town has made major investments in the towns infrastructure, making up, in some cases, of years of projects sitting in limbo not being done. The new Community House project covered both the need for a new Community house and the desperately needed Senior Center; Walsh Intermediate School was a rather absurd “open-concept” design that many students and parents hated. A new Animal Shelter, remodeled Blackstone Library, Indian Neck Firehouse, all projects that moved forward due to smart fiscal leadership, while maintaining a AAA bond rating, keeping and growing savings, and keeping the mill rate in check.
Majority Leader Tracy Everson now responds to that leadership with a new idea: cut into the savings account. In a recent letter, in which she states she speaks for her party, she calls for a “No Tax Increase” budget by tapping into this surplus. For the political novice, it’s the towns savings; when politicians are advocating for more spending, they call it a ‘surplus.’
This is cowardice on the behalf of Everson. Its easy to say drain the savings account to cover spending, as she avoids offending anyone by calling for any reduced spending. We have a major police station project coming, increased staffing for the fire department, new Walsh fields, and new park renovations on the horizon. The town does spend on infrastructure and basic needs, and spending will increase. When that happens, the town is best suited leaving savings in place, and even increasing it; it helps tremendously to maintain a AAA bond rating, saving millions in interest rates.
It is clear Everson has learned nothing from the state, which paid higher interest rates for years as its savings dwindled. Yelling to drain savings that the responsible people in the room built up to maintain a strong bond rating and financial flexibility in order to push the bumper sticker slogan of “No Tax Increase” isn’t just political posturing, it’s the drivel of a child yelling at the adults in the room.
And before the claim of a biased political piece comes into play, know this: the first selectman is a Republican who has managed to get those massive infrastructure projects done while increasing savings; the chair of the Finance Board is a Democrat. And not just any Democrat, the former head of the states revenue service. People with actual fiscal understanding are at the helm.
Now only is Everson clueless, she’s dangerous. You don’t push for pumper sticker politics to undo the careful work of decades that has been done both wisely and in a bi-partisan manner. And if Everson is the voice of the party, one should wonder what the hell is going on in the Branford Democratic Party today. What Everson really needs to explain is why she so badly wants Branford’s finances to look like West Haven.