Ruocco campaign kickoff - newsletter August 1

Councilman Tom Ruocco has kicked off his campaign with the creation of a newsletter. It's pretty snazzy, IMO. But I'm not going to print it. Instead, I offer the content:

I am very excited to officially begin my re-election campaign. I’ve worked hard to assist residents with issues that affected their neighborhoods, proposed and obtained unanimous support for the formation of a Senior Tax Relief Study Group, and advocated for low taxes.

I have proposed reduced operating and capital budgets, advanced the idea of salary freezes, supported changes to our pension programs and suggested changes to our vacation accrual policy; all in an effort to reduce operating costs and alleviate long term taxpayer liability. I will continue to advocate for local taxpayer relief in the form of lower budgets and placing taxpayers first in the line of priority. Elected officials have the obligation to represent the citizens of Cheshire, and I intend to maintain a sense of representation that reflects the sentiment of the average Cheshire citizen.

We continue to face difficult economic times. Going forward, elected officials must demonstrate leadership and the courage of our convictions to do what is best for the public. During these challenging times, I believe it is best to treat the local budget and town operations much like the average taxpayer treats their own budget. We must live within our means, reject unnecessary spending on projects that are nice to have, and focus on doing basic things with excellent results. We must reduce our debt service and avoid future debt by using cash to fund smaller capital projects. During this past year’s budget cycle, the cash account we use to avoid debt service, known as capital non-recurring (CNR) was reduced by $247,000. The funds were moved into another account to cover this year’s expenses. This was a mistake. It simply means we have fewer resources to reduce debt, and more recurring costs for next year.

We must become less reliant on state funding and cash surpluses to cover operating costs. Instead we must reduce spending to mitigate the mill rate. Using surpluses to cover recurring costs has simply deferred a tax increase into next year. Better cost management and cost reduction decisions will reduce our demand for excessive surpluses and over-taxation.

The next Council will be confronted by critical issues as well as opportunities. For example, the town will benefit from the collection of over 5 million dollars in reserve funds stemming from our expired contract with the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority. How will that money be allocated? My position is simple – return it to the taxpayer in the form of reduced long term liability and mill rate reduction. Some possibilities include reducing debt, strengthening and modernizing our pension program, and re-building our taxpayer relief fund. There are ways to help the taxpayer, and opportunities will arise to make it possible. What we need now, more than ever, is leadership with the courage to make it happen.

I wish Tom the best of luck in his reelection bid. I'm confident that he'll both work hard and be reelected on November 3.

Tim White