Fitzmaurice Unveils Vision to Strengthen Orange’s Future
At the Orange Democratic caucus on Tuesday, July 15, Dan Fitzmaurice, Democratic candidate for First Selectman, introduced an actionable platform aimed at strengthening the town’s commercial development, enhancing services for residents, increasing government efficiency, and preserving the quality of local schools.
“Our plan delivers on what residents have told us matters most: lowering the tax burden, protecting home values, maintaining our high educational standards, and creating a stronger, more responsive town government,” said Fitzmaurice. “Together, we can make Orange not just the town we love—but one that’s more proactive, connected, and efficient.”
The four first priorities include: creating a full-time, accountable economic development department within Town Hall that provides focused, dedicated support for local businesses and farms along with securing state and regional grants to lower the tax burden on homeowners; protecting what makes our school system great and keeps our home values high through smart local planning, fighting for adequate state funding, and applying for grants; finally fixing Fred Wolfe Park in a way that enables future upgrades for the community and helps Orange remain a community of choice; and creating an “Orange Connect” system that offers residents a single, trackable place to report issues and get answers quickly.
The priority platform goes into specific detail about what each initiative will take to accomplish, how it will be incorporated into Orange’s budget without adding an additional burden on residents, and how the improvements will make a meaningful difference to people in town. It also includes links to important resources about similar successful programs in nearby and comparable communities.
In a speech to the caucus outlining the priorities, Fitzmaurice said, “I’m not a career politician. My work has involved leading organizations and solving tough problems. And I can tell you this: solutions that matter don’t happen by accident. They come from a real plan—and one we build together.”
“These are not our campaign’s only priorities,” said Jody Deitch, Chair of the Orange Democratic Town Committee. “They are the issues that our team feels are important to focus on from the start to make our town stronger, more accessible, and work better for everyone. All our Democratic candidates are focused on these priorities in some way—whether it’s related to our Town Plan & Zoning efforts, our Boards of Education, or Boards that support our town’s budget, like the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen.”
Residents of Orange can review the full details of the First Priority Plan at OrangeCTDems.org/2025. They are also invited to complete a brief feedback form on the site related to the priorities and to share their ideas about how we can all work together to make Orange stronger.
