To the Editor:

In Monroe, we have a dedicated minority of voters, roughly 2,000 taxpayers, who will not vote to pass the budget no matter how many reductions the First Selectman makes to it. These voters make up about 10% of the population in Monroe and roughly 15% of the entire Monroe electorate.

I’m sure these voters have valid personal reasons for continually voting the budget down. I applaud their interest in the budget process by voting and wish that people who support the budget were just as committed, However, our budget process essentially creates rule by a minority in Monroe; and ironically it is minority rule even if the budget passes. If you look back at the history of budget referendums in Monroe you get about 25% to 30% of the electorate to vote in budget referendums. Pass or fail, the budget’s fate is determined by anywhere from 12% to 15% of the electorate. This limited voter turnout certainly shouldn’t be the final word in determining the final mill rate. However, it should be one of the components.

To compound the minority rule issue, this year our budget process is complicated by a 15% increase in our debt service. This increase primarily occurred because the Town authorized, in prior special referendums and Town Meetings, funding for items such as, building a new middle school, rehabilitating the high school, building a new library and buying open space. Since debt service is a fixed cost, if the budget is voted down reductions can only be made in the operating budget of the Town, essentially cutting services and items like maintenance on Town facilities.

Many of the projects undertaken with bonded indebtedness were needed because: the facilities that were being fixed or replaced were inadequate to service Monroe’s growing needs. It is ironic that reductions in past budget referendums, by our minority rule process, often caused maintenance on Town facilities to be severely shortchanged or deferred in order to fund other priorities, creating a vicious circle of bad choices for subsequent budget battles.

Allowing the debt service to be part of the budget referendum vote allows taxpayers “two bites” at the debt service apple. In a rational budget process you would never allow long term, authorized, funding decisions to be voted on twice; especially in the same process that creates your yearly operating budget. This is a major flaw in our budget process and I would strongly urge our elected officials to investigate if “two bites” is legal; it certainly creates an irrational framework for deciding current town priorities. Unfortunately there is no short term fix for eliminating the debt service costs from annual budget referendum votes. Any change in the voting process lies in a change to the Town’s Charter which needs to occur in the near future.

But our elected officials can fix the issue of how much weight a minority of voters should have on Monroe’s final budget by sending this budget back to the voters as: it presently stands. It’s not like this budget has survived to this point without any reductions. Our elected officials have cut significant dollars out of the initial budget request and substantially cut additional funds during the referendum process. Now they need to stand up and deliver a budget that they know meets the entire Town’s needs.

For those elected officials who might argue that sending the budget back without any further reductions violates some unwritten compact with the taxpayers, I offer the following novel idea. If the electorate does not like an elected officials’ position or vote on budget related issues, their final recourse is to vote for someone else in the next general election. However, voters generally respect leaders who do the right thing no matter if they disagree with you on a specific issue. Voters rarely respect elected officials who try to placate squeaky wheels. Elected officials have a responsibility to ensure that all of Monroe’s citizens — especially those who can’t vote - are properly serviced. Minority rule in Monroe must end; it jeopardizes Monroe’s future.

Tom Buzi
Monroe