Marc Comtois
As reported by the ProJo, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian’s new budget includes significant tax increases (both in the property tax and imposition of the car tax) on the city’s residents. Additionally, the Warwick Beacon provided this helpful graphic to illustrate what it could mean for your average, two-car Warwick household: Avedisian blames the 2010 floods,…
OK, so I’m aggregating a bit, but just today we’ve had all sorts of cultural economic news. Providence is going to host a professional video game tournament in November (where was this when I scored so high on Donkey Kong on the Atari that the sprites started quivering!) that will bring in 16,000 spectators. (Advice:…
In the first half of the 2000’s I attended Providence College and earned an M.A. in History from that fine institution. Finally, after a few years, I’ve decided to formalize a portion of my studies by publishing a monograph. It’s a historical work that focuses on the Burgundians of the period popularly called The Dark…
R.I. taxpayers facing increased contribution to state pensions. For Men: …the moves would increase the projected amount that state and local taxpayers are required to pay for these public employee pensions from an overall $308.5 million this year and $358.7 million next year to $621.8 million in the budget year that begins July 1, 2012.…
The ProJo headlines the $9.4 billion pension liability, but also mentions the $2.4 billion health care liability. That’s $11.8 billion in money owed to state and municipal retirees (some of which is funded). They try to soften the blow explaining that an 80% funding level “is considered healthy” for pensions. So that makes it about…
GoLocalProv released their 2nd annual school ranking list and, setting aside the specific rankings, the fact that fairly well-off suburban communities rated at the top of the list and urban schools at the bottom is really no surprise. However, the way that GoLocal formulated their rankings by weighting expenditure/pupil and teacher/student ratio more (15% each)…
Over the weekend, the ProJo editorial board pointed to the apparent dichotomy of non-profit organizations enabling their directors and board members to profit with significant sums of money: Recently, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts parted ways with its chief executive, Cleve L. Killingsworth, but not before handing him an $11 million severance package. Bay…
Education reformer Dianne Ravitch was in town the other day. Ravitch, a reformed school reformer, claims that the reform ideas she once espoused don’t work and, as a result, has risen like the phoenix and hailed by groups in favor of maintaining the status quo. Expanding charter schools isn’t the answer, she says. Nor is…
Yeah, I know, who cares what a bunch of rich CEOs think. Anyway, fwiw (h/t Ted Nesi): Business leaders graded the states on a variety of categories grouped under taxation and regulation, workforce quality and living environment. “Do not overtax business,” offered one CEO. “Make sure your tax scheme does not drive business to another…