Letter: FTR — Vote budget #2 to control your taxes

Posted 5/3/16

To the editor:

Tiverton’s Financial Town Referendum (FTR) will occur on Saturday, May 21, and ballot options range between a .9% and a 3.5% tax increase.

The Budget Committee has recommended …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Letter: FTR — Vote budget #2 to control your taxes

Posted

To the editor:

Tiverton’s Financial Town Referendum (FTR) will occur on Saturday, May 21, and ballot options range between a .9% and a 3.5% tax increase.

The Budget Committee has recommended that municipal budgets increase 4.4% which results in a 3.5% tax increase. Perusing their recommended budget shows that the committee recommended funding items that voters said no to in the last FTR, and in some cases the last two FTRs.

For example, last year the voter approved annual budget funded a planner only part time. However, the Town Council, with complete disregard to voting taxpayers, renewed the salaried planner’s deal. And now the Budget Committee recommends funding this filled position, even though voters rejected this line item last year.

In another case, last year voters rejected paying dues to the League of Cities and Towns, an organization that claims to ‘assist’ municipal governments – but whose efforts often result in increased taxpayer dollars going into the municipal coffers. It is no wonder voters agreed with zeroing the annual dues. Yet in defiance of voters the Town Council fully funded and paid the dues, and now the Budget Committee is again recommending that the dues be paid. I thought the Budget Committee was supposed to serve as the taxpayers’ sharp pencil?

This year, an additional FTR petition was originated by Town Councilman Joe Sousa. A review of Mr. Sousa’s votes as councilman shows that he voted for the full-time planner contract. In fact, he seconded the motion to approve it. Yet his petition curiously funds this position at $1 (not a typo). What else did Councilman Sousa vote to do but now proposes not to fund?

The last two years, the Tiverton tax increases were only 0.0% and 0.9% thanks to the elector petitions originated by resident Justin Katz, and it is important to note that in contradiction to the pundits, “the sky did not fall.” In fact, the Town Council even had enough money to fund items that voters rejected. This year Mr. Katz has submitted a 0.9% petition again, and I urge all voters to support his Budget #2, the 0.9% tax levy increase on the FTR ballot. Voting takes just 5 minutes on a private ballot at Tiverton High School on Saturday, May 21. In addition, there is early voting at Town Hall on Thursday, May 19, and Friday, May 20. Please vote to control your taxes again this year. Jeff Caron

Tiverton

Mr. Caron is former chairman of the Tiverton Budget Committee and a former co-chairman of the Financial Town Meeting Changes Advisory Committee.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.