Letter: Responsible, frugal values vs a bit of peeling paint

Posted 10/21/20

To the editor:

I am responding to a recent letter noting the condition of the exterior of the Little Compton Town Hall. This evolved into the author, a fellow veteran and member of the community, …

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Letter: Responsible, frugal values vs a bit of peeling paint

Posted

To the editor:

I am responding to a recent letter noting the condition of the exterior of the Little Compton Town Hall. This evolved into the author, a fellow veteran and member of the community, recommending that readers vote to replace the current Republican Town Council majority. I think that this is a bit of a stretch to go from lack of paint to replacing a fiscally conservative body.

I checked at Town Hall and learned that the council is shepherding its capital improvement funds on that structure for new window replacements, insulation and possibly siding. It does not make fiscal sense to repaint the building at the present time with these more substantive improvements on the horizon. Improvements which, I might add, will likely save the taxpayers more money by lowering the heating costs of the building.

Relative to taxes, Little Compton has the lowest tax rate ($5.99 per thousand) in the entire state. That is quite an accomplishment.  The author of the prior letter currently pays approximately $2, 600 in annual Little Compton real estate taxes. If he lived several miles to the north  in Tiverton, he would pay, for a house with the same valuation as his, approximately $7,000  in annual real estate taxes.

Knowing this, perhaps he (and others) will tolerate a bit of peeling paint on a municipal building in this small New England town —  one governed by a body with what I am afraid are fast becoming old-fashioned responsible and frugal values.

Respectfully submitted, 

Stetson W Eddy

Little Compton

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