For years the Tiverton Taxpayers Association has warned that opponents of the Financial Town Referendum (FTR) have been trying their best to weaken voter and taxpayer protections granted through that process. When given the chance to vote, voters have rejected these takeover attempts in the past. But the town council, with help from the town lawyer and other allies, have still managed to take control of the entire FTR budget process, including control of the casino revenue, control of general fund reserves, and controlling which budget proposals ever get in front of the voters to vote on.

They are at it again. This year, they are trying again to rewrite numerous portions of the town charter to generally do three things: First, to shrink and weaken the power of the budget committee.

Second, to make it much more difficult for voters to put their own budget proposals in front of the voters (such as a sixfold increase of the number of voter signatures needed). Third, to codify, and bless after-the-fact, the power grab the town council has already done.

This ballot question hasn’t gotten much attention, with the low-key presentation hoped to slide past the voters distracted by other concerns such as covid and inflation. This charter change was also never approved by an elected Charter Review Commission.

The Tiverton Taxpayers Association (TTA) opposes ballot question 6. But the TTA has not run an active campaign this cycle because, as a practical matter, the town council has already gutted the FTR behind the scenes. So whether or not the town council sneaks this one past the voters, checks on town council powers must come through the next elected Charter Review Commission (which our charter calls for just next year in 2023). Until then, it will be the same as it has been the last few years: A power and money grab by the town council.

Nancy Driggs
Tiverton

Driggs is president of the Tiverton Taxpayer Association and is a former member of the Tiverton Town Council, Budget Committee and Charter Review Commission