Democratic Board of Finance Candidates’ Joint Statement

Bethel is facing a perfect fiscal storm and the Democratic team of candidates for the Board of Finance—Dalene Foster, Bob Manfreda, Robert Palmer, Wendy Smith and Claudia Stephan—possesses the business, financial and municipal expertise necessary to weather the storm and to move Bethel forward.

 

The next budget cycle not only requires Bethel’s Board of Finance to wrestle with the typical issues involving the annual operating budget, but will also require important decisions on both the police station and school renovation projects. Specifically, the town must bond $14.5 million for the new, approved police station, for which construction is underway. The town is also faced with either renovating “as-new” (estimated net cost, $40 to $42 million) or patchwork repairing (estimated cost, $29 million) our Johnson and Rockwell schools. The successful town referendum was an important first step to renovating as new, but now Bethel must wait on the State’s final approval of its grant request.

 

The State of Connecticut’s budget troubles make the Board of Finance’s job more difficult. These budget woes have and will continue to result in less support from Hartford, jeopardizing funding the Town has relied upon in its immediate past. Given these realities, the Bethel Board of Finance cannot conduct business as usual. We are no longer merely managing a checkbook.

 

Rather, to successfully navigate the coming fiscal storm, the Bethel Board of Finance members must possess the financial expertise necessary to know how best to use the fund balance while maintaining the town’s AAA credit rating; the financial acumen to assess the interest-rate environment for purposes of paying back $12 million of short-term debt not related to the police station, issuing less-expensive new long-term debt and, possibly, re-bonding expensive existing debt; and the financial foresight to plan for what may come, such as establishing sinking funds for large critical purchases like fire trucks.

 

The Bethel Democratic candidates for the Board of Finance possess this expertise. We, the undersigned, are the team that will ensure Bethel successfully weathers the storms to come. Please support expertise in financial management by electing the Democratic team for the Bethel Board of Finance. Vote Row A on November 7.

 

Dalene Foster, Bob Manfreda, Robert Palmer, Wendy Smith and Claudia Stephan

Democratic Candidates for Bethel’s Board of Finance