Adventures in Town Government
Ed Achorn laments the political reality of East Providence. Noting that voters supported a local tax cap, he points out that they removed from office the very people who would strive to meet it. The unions, in short, outhustled, outspent, out-deceived and out-organized the public-spirited incumbents in East Providence, making sure that they won’t be…
I just learned, during tonight’s Town Council meeting in Tiverton, that Town Treasurer Phil DiMattia is projecting that the 2010 fiscal year brought nearly $1 million surplus. During a recession. With a large tax increase for the current fiscal year. That, by the way, doesn’t include federal funds given to the school department by the…
In all of its coverage of the election, thus far, including an “Election Digest” published last Thursday, the Providence Journal — like every other major news outlet in the state — has neglected to report on the fact that my local taxpayer group, Tiverton Citizens for Change, has taken a commanding role on the Town…
Curiously, giving somebody total power over a municipality seems likely to do nothing so much as expand the scope of “total”: The state-appointed receiver who assumed Mayor Charles D. Moreau’s powers in July announced Tuesday that he was appointing a three-member advisory council to act in place of the five-member elected City Council. A mayor’s…
The best election-results quotes from Rhode Island conservatives/reformers came out of East Providence: [Soon-to-be-former School Committee Chairman Anthony] Carcieri laughed in the face of defeat and said, “The public has spoken, so get your checkbooks out. We’ll be paying a lot of taxes in the near future.” Soon-to-be-former Mayor Joseph Larisa points to the deeper…
Ted Nesi reports that Superior Court Justice Michael Silverstein has found the Central Falls receivership to be constitutional: As I mentioned back in July, the big constitutional question here was whether or not putting a city or town into receivership represented a permanent change in a municipality’s form of government. Administration lawyers and Pfeiffer argued…
There’s been some question, in the comments sections, about differing tax rates reported for property in Central Falls. John Hill explains what happened: Last year, the total value of residential, commercial and industrial real estate in the city was just under $685 million. The new valuation, based on sales figures from the past year, was…
I don’t know if it’s a Rhode Island municipality v. municipality thing or massive frustration with the insider v. outsider structure of our civic culture, in this state, but the commenters to my Central Falls post are marching all around the point. Patrick writes: … I understand the point that you’re making, but I think…
… only they can’t, because the people who govern Rhode Island have decided that bond ratings justify a sort of economic martial law. They simply don’t believe that democracy works. So, bond rating agencies’ threat to devalue Rhode Island’s ability to borrow more money (which it shouldn’t be doing, anyway) has given a single man,…
I actually agree with former Johnston Policewoman Michele Capelli’s lawyer that the town has no right to demand that she repay a disability pension excess that was given to her erroneously — much less simply remove it from her bank account — unless there was some criminal activity involved in giving her the money in…