Residents Revive Farmington Future to Support Budget

In March 2006, Farmington Future emerged to advocate for passage of the town budget. The group of local parents, grandparents and community leaders aimed to preserve the town's quality of life and of education.

But after several years of budgets passed at a first referendum, the group's activities waned and it went silent. Signs with the group’s cupped green hand were absent.

Then the 2011-2012 budget failed and parents undertook an energetic campaign of phone calls and emails to get residents to the second town meeting, then to the second referendum.

Farmington Future was rekindled.

“A bunch of us pulled together when we saw the huge amount of cuts and we had to go to a second referendum. It pulled a bunch of parent leaders and other leaders in town under the auspices of Farmington Future,” said Beth Kintner, one of the leaders of the group’s new iteration.

The group began again with many new people but the same mission — to support the town budget process.

“The ultimate goal is to advocate for adequate funding overall to keep the level of great services we all enjoy, including the schools,” Kintner said.

Part of that involves educating people, said Liz Fitzsimmons, who also sparked the group’s revival.

“We want to make sure people in Farmington know what the process is, know that there is a referendum, know that it’s on May 3,” she said. “The budget impacts every aspect of their day-to-day life. It’s a very important vote to every member of the community.”

During the 2011-2012 budget season, Fitzsimmons and Kintner intensified their work explaining the impact of the referendum.

“We were so excited to have the opportunity to explain to people what the budget process was, what the referendum meant and if it didn’t pass what the consequences would be,” Fitzsimmons said. “Some people were hearing it for the first time.”

Farmington Future recently held its first meeting for 2012 with more than 20 people.

“We feel like we’re getting off to a really good start. It’s a very diverse group. There were all ages at the table, not just parents.

“People support the budget for various reasons, maybe they love the town for the library, maybe they love the town for the firefighters, maybe the public works department. The referendum brings the town together for a variety of reasons; Farmington Future can bring people together for a variety of reasons. It doesn’t just have to be the schools.”

With the Town Council and Board of Education currently working to develop their budgets, Farmington Future is following the proceedings, going to meetings and speaking during public comment periods.

Soon, volunteers will be dividing into smaller groups around what they’re interested in doing. Fitzsimmons stressed that there are all types of tasks available and some may want to just join the email contact list to get updates.

Anyone who would like to get involved or ask questions of the group, is welcome to email farmingtonfuture@gmail.com.