To the editor:

Follow the bouncing ball folks:

1. Tiverton Taxpayer Association’s Justin Katz, as a Town Council member and author of several petitioner budgets, "develops" a budget including the 2% he chose to give the schools (TC has zero authority over the school budget).

Also included is an inflated Capital Budget from bait and switch line items and restricted settlement funds. Keep in mind he states in this feed the "School Committee" wouldn't budge. Yet he met with the Superintendent two times and still came out with 2%. Mr. Transparency.

2. Budget is "debated" among the TC and voted on.

3. Budget is transferred to the TTA majority BC.

4. TTA BC Chairman Jeff Caron advises the BC to disregard the TC school number.

5. The BC adds funds to various departments and cuts from others. Most hot button votes go along TTA vs non TTA lines.

6. The BC increases the school budget but it is still at a level deemed critical by the new superintendent. At this point staff and program cuts are on the table for the schools.

7. Tiverton resident Sanford Mantell, with a vast knowledge of budgeting, works with all sides of town government to create a petitioner budget. Included is the appropriate level of funding for the schools minus some of the full amount requested. It also allocates school capital to the school budget as required by RI Law. Legal and building are increased to attract professionals in those fields. Other smaller line items are increased as well.

8. Budget deadline day arrives. Justin races to Town Hall and proceeds to review the budgets. Various phone calls are made and more calculating goes on. At 11:55 a.m., TTA BC Chairman Caron walks into Town Hall and submits his resignation. Justin refuses to publicly state why he forced Jeff out. Previous comments from Katz indicated that he and Jeff had a falling out. BC Sousa confirmed that in a blip in the newspaper. Mr. Transparency…

Did Jeff Caron resign because he didn't follow orders? Is it because he actually may have compromised a teeny bit? Is it because of the horrid behavior of some of his TTA BC members yelling at department heads? Is it because it was discovered that the school capital was illegally placed in the control of the treasurer instead of the school finance department?

Compromise, as Justin sees it, is doing it his way or no way. Compromise is not transmitting an intentionally low budget to the TTA BC so they can add funding and it can be called a compromise.

The times of thinking the voters are blind and don't pay attention are over. There is a reason the TTA has shed supporters, including key internal figures, and will continue to shed them. This is not a Republicans vs Democrats battle. This is Republicans, Democrats, and Independents vs the TTA Tea Party!

Support our community. Support Budget 2.

David J Paull

Tiverton