Newsletter Volume 3 • Number 42
Finance board Republicans’ power grab exceeds their authority
Last week’s town budget, which was passed with “nuclear bomb” cuts and without a single Democratic vote, targeted everyone from seniors in the Witherell nursing home and children in our public schools to ice skaters looking for a new rink and homeowners in flood prone areas.
As bad as that was, however, the shock obscured something more insidious. The six Republicans who control the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) pushed to expand their power dramatically, despite winning by the slimmest of margins.
- They thumbed their noses at the town legislature, refusing to provide funding for a new town ordinance
- They overruled the Board of Education’s (BOE) engineering decision on an HVAC system
- They ignored a request from the First Selectman, who happens to be a Republican too
- They substituted their own, uninformed views for science and data presented by the town’s professional experts
- They dismissed the pleas of thousands of town residents
Personal views turn into policy
BET Chair Harry Fisher, who has often questioned the validity of climate science, used his tiebreaking vote to cut funds for flooding prevention, EV chargers, and an open space fund. Selectwoman Janet Stone McGuigan noted the shortsightedness. “Each year our weather is more extreme; one doesn’t have to believe in climate change to see that. What good are tax savings if insurance premiums go up, or worse, if homeowners are left to deal with flood damage?”
Republicans also denied funds that would fix the Hamilton Avenue School’s geothermal HVAC system unless the Board of Ed reconsiders a new, gas powered system instead. “We are extremely frustrated,” responded schools Superintendent Toni Jones. “After ten months of work from top experts in the field, we are at a standstill.”
Once again, the six Republicans cut funds to make sidewalks comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last year, the BET’s budget committee chair Leslie Tarkington worried that sidewalk ramps might be difficult for women in high heeled shoes to navigate.
Rejecting an RTM “mandate”
Last year, after months of research and deliberation, the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) overwhelmingly approved a new law preventing gas powered leaf blowers from use in summer. The town asked for funds to purchase electric leaf blowers to comply. At first, BET Republicans raised concerns about the fire risks from lithium batteries.
The Greenwich Fire Department answered that, but Republicans used their tiebreaking vote to reject the funds anyway. Their only explanation? They’re not accepting a “mandate” from the RTM. “This is basically saying we don’t really care what the law is,” said David Weisbrod, a Democratic member of the BET who voted against the cuts.
Dismissing the public on school funding
Constituents packed hearing rooms, sent the BET over 1,000 emails, published letters on news sites and called the First Selectman’s office with a single message: fully fund our public schools. Fred Camillo released a statement of support for the bipartisan Board of Education’s budget. But Republicans cut the schools too, to cries of “shame on you” from the audience.
Emboldened by Republican power grabs?
The BET seems to be following a GOP playbook. Trump has issued many potentially illegal executive orders, and trampled on states’ rights by threatening to withhold funding unless they dance to his tune. We’ve also seen Republican partisans in other states try to strip Democratic governors of power.
Fight back! Support the BET Democrats. Donate to the Democratic town committee, and vote for all six Dems in November’s election. If they win more total votes than the Republicans, we’ll have the tiebreaking vote for just the second time in a century.
About that tiebreaking vote…
Republicans used it a shocking 25 times during the voting last week. With that power, deadlocked votes on key funding for things like the Hamill rink, road paving, sidewalk accessibility and our public schools devolved into Republican party-line budget slashing. In years past, there tended to be agreement across both parties on the BET and key decisions were historically made through collaboration, consensus, and respect for other town bodies. Not anymore.
How to vote for the BET, an explainer from the League of Women Voters.
At first glance, the makeup of the town finance board looks evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Every two years, six members of each party are elected to the twelve-person board. So, who gave the Republican chair of the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) that tiebreaking power? You did. (Well, maybe it was your friends and neighbors.) That’s because whichever party racks up the most votes for its candidates in the election gets the tiebreaking vote.
In the last municipal election, in 2023, total votes for the six Republican BET candidates slightly outnumbered votes for the six Democratic BET candidates, handing BET Republicans the chairmanship and that all-powerful budget-deciding vote. And, the GOP has controlled the BET for 98 of the past 100 years!
So in November, vote for all 6 BET Democrats. BET Democrats are smart financial planners and they value listening to and taking seriously the interests of town residents.
What we’re reading
Reckless Trump cuts hit Greenwich school kids
We’re learning details about the pain DC’s foisting on our schools now. Greenwich stands to lose $3 million as the U.S. Department of Education shuts down. “But the damage goes beyond the checkbook,” Nick Simmons, a former senior adviser there writes. “The Department of Education was created during the Cold War to ensure our schools kept pace with the world…. And yet, at a time when schools face new challenges from cell phones in schools to absenteeism, we are destroying the one entity meant to help states respond.”
At the same time, USDA programs have been cut that allowed local farms to supply fresh produce to schools and pantries such as Greenwich’s Neighbor To Neighbor. Ali Ghiorse and Karen Saggese, co-directors of the Greenwich Food Alliance, describe the impact. “We have to ask ourselves, what could possibly be a higher priority than ensuring students and those facing food insecurity have access to nutritious food, while simultaneously supporting the economic health of Connecticut’s small farms?”
Action Calendar
April 25. Take a stand.
Take a stand against racism with the YWCA and keynote speaker Ramin Ganeshram, Executive Director of the Westport Museum. Greenwich Town Hall, noon. Register here.
| Volume 3, Number 42 • April 10, 2025 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |