This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Financial Management Expertise

Connecticut now has the unenviable distinction of being the only state in the nation that hasn’t yet passed its budget, and has a capital city that may soon be the first ever to go into bankruptcy proceedings. Meanwhile, the shape of our state’s fiscal future is only now murkily coming into focus, as the legislature continues to wrestle with forging a solution that will combine tax increases of some kind, with service and program reductions of many kinds.

One thing that is increasingly clear, however, is that the relationship between Hartford and Connecticut’s towns will change profoundly, with some portion of our huge, accumulated state debt being pushed down to municipalities used to receiving grants from the state, not bills.

The transition to this new fiscal arrangement is going to test local governments like never before, and place a premium on their ability to make prudent, long-range plans for investing in their public infrastructure, schools, and human resources. We must work to insure that adequate levels of funding are always available to protect and nurture Guilford’s most valued assets, while putting enough aside to meet unforeseen financial challenges, like those resulting from the effects of climate change along our shoreline.

Ken MacKenzie brings decades of sophisticated financial management experience and expertise to his current role on Guilford’s Board of Finance, where his willingness to search out the underlying details in its spending plans to identify any potential cost-savings for the town is not always popular.

It is precisely this orientation toward detailed fiscal analysis, and cautious approach to taxing and spending that Guilford will need to survive, and eventually thrive, in the years ahead. Let’s put his financial management expertise at the center of our town’s planning and decision-making, by electing him as our next first selectman.

Robert S. Vavasour

Guilford