Now, more than ever you need a proven leader with vision and integrity. A leader who understands how to be fiscally responsible and who has shown true care and compassion for the needs of the people of Cheshire.

RE-ELECT DON WALSH

While serving on the Town Council over the past 6 years here are some of the biggest issues we have faced and what we have accomplished:

• Fiscal Responsibility

  • Under republican leadership my first 4 years, we delivered balanced budgets while maintaining a $10 million fund balance to plan for the expenses we will face with the 2 new schools we are building. We also have maintained a AAA credit rating allowing us to have lower interest bonding rates.

  • The past 2 years have been difficult under democratic control. Trying to cut spending and save residents and businesses wherever I could has been difficult. Successfully challenged the council to cut a FOG fee to businesses that saved them hundreds of dollars. Unsuccessfully fought to keep control of the NEF Funds so we can do a bulk trash drop off.
    

•  Lowering Residential Tax Burden

  • My first 4 years we had the largest increase  in our tax base in the past 25 years and it is continuing.  A big part of that is due to the council approving the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) which helps fund infrastructure in new developments.

  • These past 2 years we have seen the largest tax increases we have seen in years. Last year, I aske our budget chair to begin planning for this year’s budget but unfortunately, it never happened. We must be planning well in advance to protect our taxpayers.

• Improved Parks

  • The first 4 years the council approved the successful referendum to build a new park adjacent to Bartlem Park which can be used by residents of all ages. We made a wide range of improvements to our parks, including renovated bathrooms, lit pickle ball courts and a new John G. Martin Education Center at Mixville Park.  We also created a new master plan to renovate Mixville Park which has already begun

• Education

  • Our schools are producing top notch students and continue to rank high in terms of standards throughout Connecticut. However, we do need to address the infrastructure. As a member of the School Modernization Committee(SMC), which is a committee of the Town Council, we worked hard to create a multi-phase plan to upgrade our schools to face the future enrollment issues in a fiscally manageable way. We are excited the 2 new schools will be opening next year.

  • With the added burden of paying for the schools, we also need to make sure we are not forcing people on fixed incomes out.  It’s a delicate balance but I know it is possible.

• Public Safety

  • We are fortunate to have a great police department and fire department.  The Town Council has  fully funded the Cheshire Police Dept. for 48 officers. We are making sure that we provide them with all the equipment and personnel they need to keep us safe. 

  • I recently uncovered an issue with our fire hydrants. Over 1300 are in Cheshire and have not been serviced in over 20 years. During our recent capital budget meeting I asked that we postpone putting the $1.1 million fire engine on a reerendum so we could use funds to inspect all of our hydrants. I was met with some resistance and a deal was made to put the fire engine back in the referendum this year provided we add funds for hydrant maintenance.
    

• Environment

  • As chairman of the Solid Waste Committee the first 4 years on the council, we brought back the Bulk Trash pick up. We have also approved a pilot program at Chapman School for food waste recycling using funds we received from the Nip Environment Fund (NEF)

  • This past year we added Doolittle Scholl to the program and plan on rolling it out to the rest of the schools in the next 2 years.

  • I wanted to use some of these funds to do a bulk waste dropoff at the old landfill but it wasn’t approved.