Submitted by Jeff Ramer, Democratic member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation
I may have a unique perspective on Greenwich’s Board of Estimate and Taxation, its “BET”. When I step off the BET at the end of December, it will complete 16 years of service. I am deeply grateful to this Town that entrusted me with this opportunity, and I hope that I repaid the Community by the caring and hard work that I devoted to the task.
The BET has morphed in recent years to a very different animal from the Board on which I served beginning in 2008. Gone is the terrific Republican Old Guard. Those people worked cooperatively with the Democrats, sharing information, bringing creative ideas, and measuring prudence. Our work product was an amalgam of twelve people working together for the best interests of the Town. There was cordiality and consensus, not politics. Party-line votes were exceedingly rare.