Newton faces urgent need for change

Rachana Rathi's article "Newton's stature jeopardized by fiscal reality" (The Boston Globe, Feb. 18) reports that the Citizen Advisory Group believes the city must change to maintain the current level of services. This statement does not reflect our true sense of urgency.

In fact, we believe that maintaining the current level of services is virtually impossible in light of Newton's capped property-tax revenues, uncapped operating costs, unfunded state mandates in education, significant retiree healthcare obligations, substantial underfunding of capital infrastructure, and residents' aversion to additional taxes of any kind in the current economic environment.

The implications of this are clear. Difficult choices must be made regarding the scope and scale of municipal and school services. Service cutbacks and program reductions must be on the table.

Many of Newton's leaders are coming to understand the severity of the challenges and choices that our city faces.

The fact that the mayor, the president of the Board of Aldermen, and the chair of the School Committee jointly empanelled our group reveals that Newton's leadership has been courageous in inviting citizen review.

This is a critical step in maintaining excellence in those municipal and educational services that Newton residents value most highly.

Malcolm Salter
Ruthanne Fuller
(Salter serves as chairman and Fuller as vice chairwoman of the Citizen Advisory Group in Newton)