Better Government for Newtown Initiative
Bruce Walczak, IPN candidate for Newtown First Selectman, and Bill Furrier, IPN candidate for Newtown’s Board of Selectmen released their position paper: Better Government for Newtown Initiative. The plan lays out how they will re-energize town government by improving efficiencies and maximizing the value town residents receive from their hard-earned tax dollars.
Planning: Implement a planning and performance management system, where long range planning becomes strategic, medium range planning coordinates all town departments and short range planning strives for flawless implementation. Throughout the entire process, public involvement will let the people to decide the prioritization of projects and will ensures consensus, because government should serve the people. .
Oversight: Capital Project oversight will be provided through the management of a strengthened Public Building & Site Commission. This commission by charter is assigned the responsibility to manage these projects because it has the people, the experience, the tools and procedures required to get the job done. This would include projects at Fairfield Hills, which should be managed like any other town property - within the rules written in our charter and from a total town plan.
Financial Accounting and Management: Implement modern financial accounting and management tools for all departments and capital projects, something that Finance Director Bob Tait has already started. Modern financial tools will allow for accurate tracking and analysis. Knowing where the money is being spent, and what value is being delivered will enable us to streamline efficiency. Spending that produces value can benefit from increased funding while spending that produces little value can expect decreased funding.
Economic Development: Combine the economic development efforts of the Fairfield Hills Authority with those of the Economic Development Commission, resulting in one comprehensive team focused on keeping existing businesses healthy while seeking to attract new ones with an appropriate return in investment.
Performance Management: Establish a transparent town wide performance benchmarking management system to ensure that each town department delivers real value to the taxpayers by setting goals and scoring performance on the town website.
Prior to the beginning of each year, each municipal department will develop a plan as to what it will accomplish during the next 12 months. This plan will lay out specific objectives along with committed dates to accomplish the objectives. Each department’s goals will be put up on the town web site, something that is not done currently.
On a quarterly basis the actual accomplishments will be posted so the voters can see the progress being made on the annual departmental goals. Monthly staff meetings will be held as they are now, but with the added focus on whether the town is accomplishing the objectives it promised to accomplish to the voters.
Bruce notes that the Better Government for Newtown Initiative is critical to address our town’s aspirations successfully. “Many of us live in Newtown because of its rural, small town character, which we want to maintain,” he said. “We want Blue Ribbon schools, well-maintained town facilities and reasonable town services. We want prosperous local businesses. We want accomplish all this while keeping Newtown affordable and creating a climate of tax stability. To accomplish this, we need to have a government with the appropriate processes in place.”
With the growth we have seen in Newtown’s annual budget and capital costs, Bill believes we need a new approach. “Our annual budget has nearly doubled in the past 10 years going from $62 million in 1999 to $104 million this year,” he says. “More alarming is the staggering increase in Capital Project requests into the CIP just this year. But as Newtown’s government has become the size of a large enterprise, we still run it like that of a small business. Bruce and I seek to implement a broad set of improvements and upgrades that will bring our government into the 21st century. Taxpayers are demanding more for their money, and if elected, IPN intends to deliver.”