Candidate Bio
Jackie Olschan Kaufman is a lawyer concentrating on land use and real property matters and regularly appears before municipal commissions and agencies in Fairfield County and throughout the state. Currently an alternate on the BOF, Jackie will use her legal and analytical skills to lead the town in careful, but effective, financial and budget decisions. Jackie grew up in Easton, and she and her husband, Ross, are thrilled to raise their two daughters here as well.
Candidate Statement
Representation Matters. A politically balanced Board of Finance is critical to the future success of Easton. For this reason, I encourage you to VOTE on Nov. 2 for Jackie Kaufman and the Democratic slate to ensure balanced discourse and voting be restored to the Easton Board of Finance.
My priority as a new board member is to work to increase community engagement leading up to the budgetary review. I would partner with my colleagues on the Board of Finance and across other municipal boards and departments to host pre-budget review sessions to hear residents’ and business owners’ priorities before we finalize the budget. This process would be very effective to establish a budget the community can support and eliminate uninformed, irreverent decisions by Board members.
It is critical to the success of this town that voting members hear the facts, gather evidence, and seek advice from other trusted community and municipal leaders to reach the right conclusion for each matter. Simply curtailing the budget is not the answer. Each matter requires critical review of the facts. Questions need to be asked and prior decisions studied. Have prior increases provided a tangible benefit to our quality of life or financial returns of investment?
Likewise, have cuts caused the opposite to be true? To understand the answers to these questions, we need meaningful and consistent metrics and open discourse to make decisions and improve the impact of the budget. It is for this reason that a balanced Board representing both parties is important.
Quality of life impacts are significant metrics in our community and often the reason new buyers are drawn to Easton and existing residents remain: strong schools, beautiful playing fields, recreation opportunities indoor and out, Senior Citizen support, dependable public health and safety and emergency services, farm culture, environmental preservation, land acreage and value.
Certainly, when these thrive, our long-term financial investments thrive. As a community, we can work together to ensure the things that matter most are well considered and protected.
