Letter to the Editor: Vote for Ellen Waff for Middlefield Town Treasurer

Many folks have met me across the desk of the Tax Collector’s Office in Town Hall.  I have served as Assistant Tax Collector for Middlefield/Rockfall, and spent four years as a member of the Board of Finance, two of those years as its Chair.  I am now running for Town Treasurer.

The office of Treasurer manages the bank accounts, and investments of the town.  It also serves as an important oversight to the town’s financial life.  The Treasurer must work closely with the staff, but especially with the Finance Director and the First Selectman.  As Treasurer, one of my goals would be to bring the accounts into the electronic age in a secure format.  The tax records are currently handled with a very user-friendly and accurate computer program.  I would like to see all of the town finances set up in a similar way.

I have earned two degrees: the first, from Connecticut College and the more recent one, with honors, from Johns Hopkins University.  I have been President of a non-profit charitable organization, the St. Andrews Society of Connecticut, for the past three years, and have served as treasurer of a number of organizations, including those receiving public funding.  I have been married for 48 years to Bill Waff; we have three daughters.  I was born and grew up in New Haven, but we lived all over the USA during Bill’s Coast Guard career, and lived in Maryland for 25 years.  We moved back to Connecticut, to Middlefield, 10 years ago.  We feel very welcome here.  It is home.

The greatest problem facing Middlefield/Rockfall today does not originate here, but at state and federal level.  Any property tax –based society requires financial assistance from outside, or the taxes become impossible for property owners to manage.  As everyone knows, the State of Connecticut and the United States government are struggling with previously acquired debt loads.  This means cuts to small towns like ours.  It’s a house of cards.  Our strength is that we can all pull together to get through this difficult time. We need to set our goals, and all work to reach them.  We can extend a helping hand to those who need one.  People need to take more of an interest in the workings of the Town, and not assume all is always going well. I welcome your input, your assistance….THAT is our strength.