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As the Chairman of the Fairfield Board of Finance, I am frequently asked about our town's tax increases and how we can better control the rate of spending growth.
While all the town bodies do their best to control increases in spending, especially during these continuing difficult financial times, one of our biggest frustrations is that many spending increases are not of the local government's choosing.
Unfunded state mandates and programs, as well as various regulations, add to our local spending and annual tax increases. The local Board of Education gets hit particularly hard with programs/regulations that they are required to fund -- regardless of effectiveness or whether or not our local board members agree with the policies/programs.
Therefore, if we want to help better control our local tax increases, a good place to start is Hartford. We need to remember, our state legislature's actions not only impact how much taxpayers send to Hartford but also how much we spend much closer to home.
Chris DeSanctis, candidate for state representative, recently wrote an Op-Ed piece (not published in the Fairfield Citizen) on this subject, proving he understands this issue very well.
Our incumbents -- state Reps. Brenda Kupchick and Tony Hwang and state Sen. John McKinney know these issues well. They have been working hard to help relieve the spending requirements on all local governments. But we need to provide them with more support. We need to return them to Hartford and elect Chris DeSanctis to join them.
Tom Flynn, chairman
Fairfield Board of Finance
