Op-Ed: Don't Cut Public Sector Jobs

Connecticut residents are at risk. The threat is coming to us from state and local officials who aim to cut back public services and lay off public sector employees in the name of balancing a strained budget.

Public sector employees are being maligned by government officials for enjoying bloated pension funds and lavish perks. Anyone who knows a teacher, fireman or police officer knows this is far from the truth. Instead of denigrating the very people who add to the quality of our lives in Westport, Norwalk and throughout the state, our government officials should be looking at alternate ways to balance the budget. Specifically they should stop putting all the burden of sacrifice on the lower economic echelons of our communities and instead increase taxes at the highest levels.

If we raise taxes our public sector employees get to keep their jobs and we as residents reap the greatest rewards. We get to keep teachers in school that are some of the best in the nation. Our town continues to be safe and secure under the protection of well-funded police and fire departments. Our beaches stay clean, roads repaired and the most vulnerable in our community, the homeless, continue to receive the support they need to live with dignity. Instead, in Norwalk the city plans to lay off 17-20 teachers this year.

The superintendent in Westport recently asked teachers for resignations [Editor's Note: The superintendent contracts for many teachers, but did not ask for resignations]. The police department in Westport will soon replace three retired police officer positions with only one new officer. Sacrificing crucial jobs to balance a budget makes no sense!

Do we in Westport and Norwalk want to be like Greenwich, a town so out of touch with the state’s economic crisis that [State Sen.] Scott Frantz is able to call for secession of the town from the rest of Connecticut over possible yacht taxes? As a young person I believe in shared sacrifice - everyone should work together. That’s the way I was raised. Westport residents are recognized for our sense of community – residents here donate generously to all causes. At this point, a different type of donation in the form of dreaded higher taxes might be required in order to keep our community strong.

My argument is this: why place the burden of sacrifice on our dedicated public service employees when an increase in taxes at the highest income bracket levels – in the name of the common good - would achieve the same end.