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Letter: State Bugdet Cuts Would Damage Fairfield Community

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The Fairfield Daily Voice accepts signed and original letters to the editor up to 350 words. To submit your letter, email fairfield@dailyvoice.com

Sheila Marmion

Sheila Marmion

Photo Credit: http://www.fairfielddemocrats.com/

To the editor:

We write to you as members of the Executive Board of the Fairfield Democratic Town Committee (DTC). Our party’s shared values are clear and unambiguous. We advocate for appropriate funding that delivers the excellent services and strong schools that translate into a high quality of life and value for our citizens.

The State’s proposed cuts of up to $4.5 million effectively zeroes out Fairfield’s Educational Tax Sharing (ECS) fund, as well as $1 million in sales tax sharing. These revenue cuts put our children, our families and our community at great risk. 

Because we have been thoughtful and responsible with our budgets, we do not have the ability to absorb the loss of these funds without doing great harm to our town and school services.

The DTC and our Democratic elected officials pride themselves on being fiscally responsible, and place a high value on the wise investment we make in our schools and our children. In fact, we already do more with less. 

Fairfield’s per pupil expenditure (PPE) is the second lowest in Fairfield County, and we fear that any further cuts to our schools will not only drive families out of Fairfield, but also make us a less desirable place to raise a family. 

And in addition to making painful and drastic cuts to both our school and town budgets, the cuts may have the added effect of raising our property taxes.

As the Executive Board of the Fairfield DTC, we strongly urge you to fight to restore these funds. Doing so will facilitate the support we need to continue delivering value to our citizens through a world-class educational system and excellent services.

Sincerely,

Steven Sheinberg, Chairman, DTC

Sheila Marmion, Vice Chairman, DTC

Elizabeth Zezima, Corresponding Secretary

Heather Dean, Recording Secretary

Mark Corcoran, Treasurer

The letter was sent to Gov. Dannel Malloy, State Reps. Laura Devlin, Brenda Kupchik, and Cristin McArthy Vahey, and Sen. Tony Hwang.

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