Over the past two years, Fairfield has seen a troubling breakdown in oversight and institutional stability.

An unbudgeted $170,000 emergency command vehicle was purchased outside established protocols, using funds from the internal service fund meant for employee health insurance and risk management. During the same period, the town’s operating budget grew by 25%, contributing to two of the largest tax increases residents have faced in years.

That instability extends beyond spending. Tune into any Board of Finance meeting, and you’ll learn that in just two years, the Finance Department lost a CFO, a long-tenured controller, a budget director, multiple accountants, and grants administrators, resulting in missed audit deadlines for the first time in a generation and weakened internal controls.

The Human Resources Department has experienced similar turnover, including the departures of the HR director, assistant director, benefits manager, and two administrative staff members. At the same time, a new payroll system intended to fix long-standing issues has instead produced costly payroll and tax-withholding errors and has been unable to migrate the police and fire departments to it.

The current police chief, appointed in July, still lacks a finalized contract. Taxpayers funded two fire chief positions for nearly a year because the fire chief was inexplicably sidelined and placed on paid administrative leave, which necessitated paying an interim chief. Key bargaining units still lack approved union contracts.

With residents facing a 6 to 8 percent property tax increase due to the recent property revaluation, there has been no public explanation of how the town plans to mitigate the tax burden in the upcoming budget. That silence should concern every taxpayer.

Please take the time to pay more attention to local government operations. We need more oversight. We need financial discipline. We need leadership and vision to result from the Feb. 3 election.

Laurie Quick lives in Fairfield.