Newsletter Volume 1 • Number 50

Many Greenwich residents were deeply disappointed with the FY ‘24 budget that passed the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) this year on a party line vote. For too long, the Republican-led BET has allowed short-term, politically motivated decision-making to dominate the process and neglect proper investment in our town. This November 7, voters will have the opportunity to choose visionary and experienced financial professionals who know how to plan for long term projects while keeping our tax rates low.

Last week, the nominating committee of the Greenwich Democrats made its recommendations for the BET. The slate, composed of three incumbents and three new candidates, brings decades of experience in managing municipal, national and corporate finances and in serving the Greenwich community.

Joining our incumbents on the BET—Leslie Moriarty, Stephen Selbst and David Weisbrod—are Elliot Alchek, Scott Kalb and Matt DesChamps.

Back row from left: Matt DesChamps, Stephen Selbst, Elliot Alchek, David Weisbrod.
Front row from left: Scott Kalb, Leslie Moriarty. Photo: Ken Greenberg

Elliot Alchek has extensive financial management experience, including billions in municipal bond sales and structured finance deals at Goldman Sachs. More recently he served as senior Vice President and Director of Capital Raising for Brickman Real Estate Associates.

Matt DesChamps is a CPA with 30 years of finance and investment experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Morgan Stanley and has launched two highly successful asset management firms. He is currently COO and Founding Partner of Kepos Capital LP. Matt also serves on the Budget Overview Committee of the RTM and is the RTM delegate to the Greenwich Energy Management Advisory Committee.

Scott Kalb served as the Deputy CEO of Korea’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, as a Managing Director at Citigroup, and also worked at Balyasny Asset Management and Black Arrow Capital Management. He is a consultant to the World Bank on growing capital markets in developing countries. Scott has served two terms on the RTM, including as Secretary of the Legislative and Rules committee, and served as a member and Secretary of the First Selectman’s Waste Management committee. He recently founded Bright Feeds, a multimillion dollar Connecticut-based waste reduction company.

The combination of our returning Board members with these new candidates forms a powerful slate with decades of experience in financial management, plus an extensive knowledge of our town’s needs through service on the BET, the Board of Education, the RTM, and numerous town committees.

The candidates will be reaching out in the coming months, so you can find out for yourselves why a vote for all six of these highly-qualified people deserves your consideration, and let them know what’s important to you as they seek solutions, not conflict, in our town.

Alert! BET will take up funding for Old Greenwich School at special Friday meeting

The Old Greenwich School Building Committee announced they are ready to meet a June 30 state deadline for funding reimbursement that would allow them to begin construction in summer of 2024. Their plans were approved unanimously by the Board of Education. In order to meet the looming state deadline, the funding request will have to be approved by both the BET and the RTM. If the request is denied, construction will be delayed by another year and the cost of construction is estimated to increase by $3 million.

The BET budget committee will meet at 8:30 a.m. this Friday, June 23 at Town Hall followed by a full meeting of the BET at 11:00 a.m. These meetings are open to the public and supporters are urged to attend.

Although no public comments will be allowed at the meetings, you can write to the BET at bet@greenwichct.org

CT site of presidential visit to celebrate passage of gun safety law

This week gun safety advocates gathered in Hartford to celebrate passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, with special guests President Joe Biden, and key sponsor of the bill, CT Senator Chris Murphy. Biden led a symposium on gun violence in CT a decade ago, when he came here as vice president to mourn the victims of Sandy Hook. The new law is the first federal gun safety measure to pass in 30 years.