Fairfield Taxpayer Responds to Dean's Letter to the Editor

Dear Ms. Dean,

We've added your letter to the Fairfield Taxpayer website. 

As you'll see from our mission statement, we provide a forum for everyone to express their views on how to keep Fairfield a desirable and affordable community for all of its residents. 

After more than 14 years of tax increases at more than 2.5 times the rate of inflation, there is finally a healthy, lively and mostly constructive debate in Fairfield about "what services we want and can afford.”

We at Fairfield Taxpayer are offended by being called “Tea Partiers” for two reasons. First, we think negative stereotyping contributes nothing to the substance of our important debate and that it is bad for our community in general.

Second, if your intent was to imply that Fairfield Taxpayer favors extreme and indiscriminate cuts in Fairfield’s budget, you are simply wrong. We all want great town services -- from snow plowing, to fire and police protection, to a great school system; but after 14 years when taxes have risen at more than 2.5 times the rate of inflation, many residents are also deeply concerned about: (a) how much we can afford to pay for those services in what continues to be a very tough general economic environment for all of us; and (b) whether we are doing all that we can to ensure that all services are provided in the most efficient and effective ways. 

Finally, Fairfield Taxpayer prides itself on being a non-partisan organization, and thus, for example, many of our members are registered Democrats, just like you.

Equally disappointing, particularly from an elected official, you also try to play “the class warfare card” by suggesting that concern about spending and taxes is coming primarily from “the more affluent parts of town.” Fairfield Taxpayer is told by many of the elected officials who receive messages through our website that the majority of calls for spending restraint come from outside the wealthier districts in town. The town-wide diversity of our website registrants (available for all to see) support this.

Moreover, “class warfare” is a silly argument because anyone who thinks the opinions of people in Fairfield who live in a home of above-average value should be presumed to be discredited, then why is the same not true for those who live in homes of below-average value?  If the former can’t be trusted to look beyond their narrow self-interests, then why not the latter?  Are we supposed to listen only to those few who live in the average home in the average district?  Sadly, your comments also contribute to the damage being done to the Fairfield "brand" (i.e., its image in the region) by portraying us as a divisive non-community that cannot address the substance of its challenges as a collaborative group of neighbors with common long-term interests.

People all over town (from all economic backgrounds, single, married with kids, seniors, young professional, etc.) are collectively very concerned about Fairfield's relentless and unsustainable tax increases and have written literally hundreds of emails to our elected officials. Many people are no longer willing to accept your view that “it would take some time” to get spending and taxes under control because we must wait until what you call “escalating drivers” can be controlled. Many people want the town to figure out how to live within the means of its taxpayers now, not at some indefinite time in the future.

You ask, “What sort of town do we want to be?” Fairfield Taxpayer’s answer is, “A desirable and affordable community for all of its residents.” That means a town that lives within the means of the people who have to pay for the services it provides. We don't believe a call for good government deserves the label, “Austerity Town." Many of us see this debate instead as necessary, smart, responsive and long-overdue good governance, and we welcome everyone’s views on how we as a town should decide what is affordable and what is not.

We welcome our community to join the debate at:

http://www.fairfieldtaxpayer.com/registrants-landing-page.html

Fairfield Taxpayer