Fairfield Looks Into Its Payments to Charity

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield’s government will distribute more than $800,000 in taxpayer money to outside organizations described in the budget as “miscellaneous.” Now a group of five Fairfield leaders are taking a deeper look at how that cash is spent — and whether it should be used at all.

“We feel it’s very important to have a documented process and to follow it very specifically,” Board of Finance member Chris DeWitt said. DeWitt is chairman of the newly re-formed Not-for-Profit Subcommittee, which met for the first time Thursday night.

The “miscellaneous” section of Fairfield’s budget includes its backup contingency fund. But it also lays out contributions to outside agencies that get $5,000 to $300,000 from Fairfield’s taxpayers.

Some of those agencies are regional groups that Fairfield must support by state law, such as the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority, which maintains the town’s public transportation system. Others are nonprofit charities, such as the Pequot Library, the Fairfield Museum and History Center and the Discovery Museum.

In recent years, members of both the Board of Finance and the Representative Town Meeting have suggested cutting those donations. The proposals were voted down each time, but some board members criticized the process of how the charities are selected.

“It struck me that our previous administration, in a completely unstructured fashion — with good intentions — simply added organizations to the so-called list, and there was no rationale for how they got on the list,” Board of Finance member Kenneth Brachfeld said.

A group had been working on a policy as recently as January 2011, but budget hearings and the problems with the Fairfield Metro Center construction stalled its work. DeWitt and Brachfeld joined Selectman Cristin McCarthy-Vahey and RTM members Mary McCullough and Julie Gottlieb in re-forming the subcommittee Thursday.

After separating required payments from voluntary donations, the group will debate whether Fairfield’s taxpayers should make any contributions to nonprofits at all. If it decides that the town should, it will then lay out criteria and a formal process for charities to make their cases to Fairfield’s elected leaders.

“This is about making the process transparent and accessible,” McCarthy-Vahey said. “Not just for the taxpayers, but for any one agency who might be eligible and would want a fair shot.”

The Non-Profit Policy Subcommittee meets next June 18. The members plan to meet throughout the summer to bring a plan to their respective boards by September.

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