Meet Mike Rettger, Incumbent & BOF Chair: Candidate for Ridgefield Board of Finance
How has your personal and professional background prepared you for this role?
During my nearly 40 years working in the financial services industry, I had a broad range of experiences. I have served in chief operating officer roles for several organizations, I have led major system design and implementation efforts in large business organizations, I have managed financial operations, and I have provided financial analysis at various levels. Since retiring, I have pursued a number of volunteer opportunities to serve the Town – and learn about Town operations. I was assistant town treasurer for 4 years, and served on the pension commission and the most recent Charter Revision commission. Being on the Board of Finance has been an opportunity to use both my business skills and my knowledge of how the Town functions in a meaningful way. Of my various volunteer efforts, this role probably has the broadest impact on the community.
What do you think are the Ridgefield Board of Finance’s greatest strengths and how will you build on them?
I’ve been on the Board for 5+ years, and I think we’re very collaborative and apolitical. People listen to each other and do their homework. The major role of the Board of Finance is to recommend a budget to the town each year that balances people’s desires for good services with their willingness to pay for them.
During my time on the Board, both the town and school budgets have been approved by 70+ percent of the voters – an overwhelming margin of support every year. I think this result speaks to the Board of Finance having done a good job of getting the balance right.
And those budgets have resulted in a tax rate that has trended less than inflation over the last 6 years. Looking forward, the Board of Finance needs to continue to build on its strong working relationship with the Board of Selectpersons and the Board of Education to continue this favorable trend as we work through some upcoming economic headwinds.
What are your top priorities for the Ridgefield Board of Finance when you are elected?
- The growth in the tax rate has been well below the rate of inflation over the past six years, while budgets have maintained or in some cases expanded services to residents and their children. We need to continue to find ways to achieve this positive outcome, even with foreseeable economic challenges over the next several years.
- I want to continue to expand transparency in the Board’s operations by adopting more formal policies and controls to guide our decision-making and review processes.
- I want to extend the perspective of the Board of Finance beyond just the current and coming year’s budgets, by looking out several years when planning and recommending operating budgets and by looking out several decades when considering the impact of capital budget requests on the town’s long-term finances.
How will you balance growth and progress while preserving Ridgefield’s character?
As is true for many residents, I would hate to see growth that disrupts the unique character of the town. That charm is a big reason why all of us are here. The Board of Finance has no direct role in managing the growth of the town. However, we are affected by development – more growth in the town in terms of more houses, more apartments, and more business translates directly into grand list (i.e., tax base) growth, which in turn translates into greater budget capacity. What is important is that we don’t outrun that growth in capacity by letting budgets get out of hand. We need to keep budgets and taxes under control so that the town remains attractive from a personal financial perspective to both current and future prospective residents.
What’s ahead for you on the Board of Finance?
Andrew Okrongly and I have been working to build the Board’s ability to project forward beyond just the current year’s budget. We now have a 3-year budget projection model. The Board has been actively using it both in setting the annual budget and in budget planning discussions with the BOS and the BOE.
We’ve also created a capital projection model that goes out 20+ years to try to estimate where levels of borrowing and debt service costs might be as we consider requests for new capital projects.
Andrew and I have begun an active budget education program. For the past several years we have published a budget history report and distributed it to the Board of Selectpersons, the Board of Education and any interested residents. The report includes a 12-year running history of budget data along with graphics about key budget trends.
And the past two years, we’ve presented a session Understanding Your Town Budget at the Library and more recently at Founders Hall, where we explain the mechanics and the numbers behind the budget.
As a Board, we have also started developing a capital budget and debt policy. This will outline rules about what capital means and what should – and should not – be included in the capital budget. We also hope to set some long-term parameters around how much debt the town should be taking on relative to its budget and tax base. That’s potentially a coming attraction that we’ve just started talking about in the last couple of months. I’d like to see that move forward because it adds consistency, transparency, and objectivity in the annual budget deliberations.
What is your leadership style?
Collaborative and non-confrontational. I like to be in front of issues and to get results.
What is one thing voters might be surprised to learn about you?
I have lived in or visited (meaning actually slept in and/or eaten a meal in) 49 of the 50 states – plus one US territory. One more state to go – hopefully in the next year or three.
Why should Ridgefield trust you?
We’ve been very successful in presenting budgets to the town that get overwhelming support from voters. That’s a huge positive and residents can trust that is something I will continue to pursue as my goal. And I have a pretty good track record of getting stuff done over my combined working and volunteer career.