May 3, 2024  |  Ruth Israely

To the Editor:

I write to urge my neighbors to join me in voting NO on the Operating Budget, YES on the Board of Education Budget, and NO on the Capital Budget.

A friend shared a message with me today that she had received in a group chat. The message supported the arbitrary budget cuts that a handful of your neighbors want to impose on you. It ended with something like, “Remind our elected officials that they work for us, not the other way around.”

If we were voting on the budget that our elected officials had put together, that might make sense. But your vote this Saturday is NOT on the carefully balanced budget that our elected officials prepared with painstaking analysis and compromise. You are voting on the upside down, slashed-and-burned Frankenbudget that a small group with an openly partisan political agenda want to force on you.

So in fact, your vote this Saturday will say very little to our elected officials (with the exception of the education budget). Instead, the message you send this Saturday will be about whether you believe in the arbitrary whims of the angry mob rather than the compromises and thoughtful analysis of the people YOU put into office.

Do you really want to send the message that you want our roads to remain cratered, unplowed, and unsafe for you and your kids to drive on? I’m sorry to tell you that the pennies per month that you’ll save on your property taxes won’t even make a dent in the cost of fixing a broken axle.

Do you really want to send the message that you don’t want to support our few small businesses by creating a walking loop that would increase foot traffic at Town Center? I’m sorry to tell you that when my friends choose to buy a house in Wilton or Ridgefield over Weston it is PRECISELY because of walkability, convenient shopping and restaurants, and nicer school facilities.

So this Saturday, let your vote send this message: we want to vote on the budget prepared by the people we elected, not the one prepared by the mob. The mob doesn’t work for us. Our elected officials do.

—  Ruth Israely