In the midst of a continuing recession, with a large tax increase just passed, Tiverton, RI, is projected to have had a nearly $1 million surplus in fiscal year 2010.
Per a typical political strategy, powers who be in Tiverton are attempting to link the elimination of critical good-government measures with any change to the town's budgetary process so they can use public resources to advocate for their preferred dollar amounts.
Just a note to let real estate owners in Tiverton know that their tax rate automatically increases if property values overall go down.
I join with John Minior in lamenting Tiverton's anti-business leadership.
It looks like a silver lining of increasing our taxes so much, at the Tiverton financial town meeting, was avoidance of an increase in our car taxes.
The dance has begun, in Tiverton, to distract residents from the plain fact that a massive increase in taxes has taken the pressure off of public labor to offer concessions.
Honestly, I'm not so sure that Tiverton needs to or should move away from the financial town meeting. But the operative clause is that I'm not sure.
What wasn't said at a local Tiverton presentation by the state economic development chief, Keith Stokes, is that our public policies and taxation have to make the state attractive as a first step in recovery.
All we can do is wait and guess about what Tiverton's response to its new-found power to increase motor vehicle taxes will be.
In contravention of law and its own regulations, the Division of Municipal Finance has approved Tiverton's request to exceed the tax cap. One might observe that contravention of the law and regulations is the MO of state government, here.
At least Tiverton's tax assessor believes that increases in motor vehicle taxes should offset real estate and property taxes. I'm sure we'll find out what the town council's opinion is soon enough.
I've corrected a false assertion that I made suggesting that the Tiverton School Department would be receiving more in state and federal aid than the financial town meeting predicted. At least as the numbers currently stand, the town is receiving a little bit less.
The General Assembly looks likely to give the Tiverton School Department $684,319 more than expected. Good thing we voted for a massive tax increase to compensate for the shortfall!
The Tiverton Town Council has decided to pretend that the law doesn't apply to them. With the exception of Jay Lambert, none of them can be trusted to stand up for clear and open processes in the interest of the people of Tiverton.
In Tiverton, it's not inconceivable that building permits could double the cost of a children's pool.
Voices from the losing side of Tiverton's FTM now join those of other Rhode Islanders who cannot shake the sense that there are two classes here: One subject to economic reality, and one not.
So, in Lincoln, they're actually seeing a tax levy decrease. Every town is different, of course, but come on.
The West Warwick School Committee is making similar sounds to those squealed by its Tiverton counterpart in the run-up to the financial town meeting. It's like there's a template.
I've posted a post-game for the FTM. Taxes are going up, and the demographic balance appears to be shifting toward a majority that can vote for more for itself from other people. But maybe there's a thread of a silver lining.
I liveblogged from Tiverton's second stage of the financial town meeting, this morning. (We lost.)
Tiverton School Committee Chairman Jan Bergandy continues to offer proof that the town's taxes may not be the amount agreed to at the financial town meeting, because his budget request (and an amendment by Deborah Pallasch) would put the town on the hook for any decreases in state and federal aid.
Ever interested in informed voting by the public, I've posted the tax implications of the various school budget proposals before the voters of Tiverton.
I've been trying to figure out the financial consequences should the School Committee follow through on its threat to close one of Tiverton's brand new elementary schools. The task has been made more difficult by the fact that nobody has researched the issue before... including the Tiverton School Committee.
Tiverton's tax assessor, David Robert, who actually lives in another town, has taken to the local press to call a certain group of politically active residents "disingenuous." If only he'd learn about the actual ongoing debates first.
Here's how we got where we are, with the School Committee claiming that it has hinged the viability of our children's education on a single vote of an erratic town meeting, despite open labor contracts and a seven-figure windfall of federal dollars.
I've described the events at Tiverton's financial town meeting over on TCC's Web site.
News of the evening in Tiverton: Town Council votes to keep FTM this Saturday, and the School Committee voted to lower its budget request in light of legal advice from the Department of Education.
I've collected and reviewed the splash of recent letters to the editor, in Tiverton, and realized that for just sixteen cents per week on the average tax bill, I could be liberated from the necessity of working.
Along with video from the last Tiverton School Committee and a chart, I've endeavored to explain the essential significance of "restricted aid."
One of the shadier aspects of the battle over the upcoming property tax increase in Tiverton came to light at the end of the last Town Council meeting, when members of Tiverton Citizens for Change raised the issue of Town Administrator Jim Goncalo's falsified package to the state requesting an uncertified waiver to exceed the 4.5% tax cap with one over 9%.
The Tiverton Town Council's attempts to grease the skids for a massive tax increase seems to have subsided, at least in its overt form. Of course, ungreased skids can still slide.
It's interesting to watch Tiverton Town Councilor Louise Durfee attempt to treat Town Treasurer Phil DiMattia as if they aren't elected in parallel by the people.
Last night, I liveblogged from the Tiverton Budget Committee's public hearing on its financial town meeting docket... at least the first two and a half hours.
I liveblogged tonight's peculiar Tiverton School Committee meeting. (Hint: It was a setup.)
Per my habits, I'm liveblogging tonight's Tiverton Town Council meeting.
I've posted video of the Tiverton Town Council's April 12 discussion about sending an "inquiry" to the state about exceeding the tax cap.
Addressing an omission of the Sakonnet Times, I've posted a letter to the editor by Tiverton Budget Committee Chairman Jeff Caron.
Tiverton is facing tax increases ranging from 4.5% to 15%, but you won't believe the tax increase being proposed in Central Falls in the same breath as mentions of municipal bankruptcy.
Yesterday, I was one of three members of Tiverton Citizens for Change to appear on the Richard Urban Show. Video is available on the TCC Web site.
There's been some question, about town, concerning the method by which town officials could request a "letter of inquiry" about exceeding the state-imposed cap on tax increases if the official budget, as it stands, is in fact below the cap. The answer, apparently, is that they'll just rewrite the documents as if the budget were something else.
The actual date of the Tiverton financial town meeting, currently scheduled for May 8, is still up in the air, pending political maneuvering that has little to do with it.
I've reported from outside a very short School Committee meeting. Coincidentally, the conversation stopped the moment I walked in the room.
Its being Monday night, I'm liveblogging the Tiverton Town Council Meeting.
I've posted the video from the latest Tiverton School Committee meeting, at which the elected officials voted to request more than the law allows from the town. (Although, they obviously don't see things that way.)
I've posted the complete video of last Monday's special Town Council meeting regarding the upcoming budget.
Along with some of my fellow active taxpayers, in Tiverton, I've been digging for the actual revenue amounts of the local school district. Now that we've got them, it's clear that this year's budget battle is mainly over whether residents should make up for a decrease in funds that they didn't even know about before because they were "restricted."
It's taken a few hours of research and discussion, but I think I've figured out how the Tiverton School Committee is attempting to fleece the residents with distortion of the law and financial smoke and mirrors.
Looking at some budget numbers for Tiverton, I really don't see how we "radical" tax hawks are being unreasonable.
It seems as if a majority of the people involved with town government, in Tiverton, wish to run things with cost as, at best, a secondary consideration. Fortunately, some residents are beginning to speak out and act in opposition.
I'm liveblogging from the Tiverton School Committee meeting... if it ever actually starts.
Currently, in the Tiverton town hall, they're looking for a 9% tax increase, one way or another, by taxing cars or by taxing homes. I'm liveblogging.
Apparently, some folks who investigate such things think Tiverton has an underage drinking problem. Not surprisingly, my suggestions have more to do with improving the town, generally, rather than trying to increase information and change attitudes as the first step.
I've posted more video from Monday night's special Tiverton Town Council meeting.
Why, do you suppose, would the local daily newspaper allow itself to be little more than a stenographer for incumbent elected officials?
I've posted video of the Tiverton Town Council's special meeting with the School Committee.
Two letters currently on the Sakonnet Times Web site bring me back into town budget discussions, the first because I wrote it, the second because it attempts to enlist me for the other side.
I'm liveblogging from a Tiverton Town Council special meeting with the School Committee. Also on the agenda is discussion of exceeding the tax cap.
I've taken a look at some of the salary line items that are going up in the Tiverton Town Administrator's proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The increases are certainly not exorbitant, but times are extraordinarily difficult.
My blog post on the Tiverton Budget Committee's vote to cut the municipal budget to the state levy cap.
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