Democrat candidates vow to seek no increase in pay

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First Selectman Susan Cable, left, and Democratic selectman candidate Chris Bielik. RA ARCHIVE

BEACON FALLS — First Selectman Susan Cable and her Democrat running mate Chris Bielik have pledged to not seek or accept any increase in salary if elected to office.

“These are hard economic times across the country and in our little town of Beacon Falls. It is evident that our citizens demand fiscally responsible government at all levels. In the first selectman’s office it is frustrating to see costs for expenditures such as heating oil, electricity, and the Region 16 school budget continue to rise while towns such as ours receive diminishing state and federal revenues,” Cable said, in a statement she issued during a recent gathering of supporters.

“This shifts more and more of the tax burden onto individual property owners who, too often, are already faced with growing financial insecurity at home,” Cable said in the statement.

Cable said, in the statement, the selectmen and Board of Finance worked and reworked a budget that speaks to demands for austerity, and it’s time to do more.

Along with the pledge to not seek a salary increase, Cable said, in the statement, that she will continue to work on a full-time basis, while refusing to make the position of first selectman a full-time job.

“I will not hire a town manager to do the job you elect a first selectman to do,” Cable said in the statement.

Back in February, Cable stated, several members of the Republican Town Committee made public statements urging the town to make the first selectman position a full-time job with a salary of $65,000, full medical, and other benefits. Cable called on Republican first selectman candidate Gerard Smith, and his running mate David D’Amico to join in this pledge to refuse to accept any raise or to hire a town manger, and to work on a full-time basis, while refusing to make the first selectman position a full-time job to really “Put Beacon Falls First.”