Adventures in Town Government
One periodically hears the complaint that Republican candidates, in Rhode Island, too often shoot for the bigger state and federal elected offices, rather than starting local. Each person has to determine his or her interests and preferences for participation, but I’ve been finding local politics, here in Tiverton, to be extremely instructive in helping to…
You’ll want to keep this in mind as your town wades through budget season: The current budget dedicates $37 million in these stabilization funds this year, leaving a balance of $32 million to be used next year — the final year of the stimulus package from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. … School districts…
Somebody in town really wants a waiver of the state-imposed property tax cap, which currently limits the total property tax levy to a 4.5% increase. As I reported in a liveblog from last Monday’s Town Council meeting, the council voted to send an extra-statutory “letter of inquiry” (meaning that there’s no such thing in the…
With Tiverton’s financial town meeting (FTM) fast approaching, I’ve been having to attend multiple town meetings per week to keep an eye on the local powers who be. For anybody who’s interested, the resulting liveblogs and videos are up on the Tiverton Citizens for Change Web site. The experience has been a real education in…
I’m surprised nobody else has highlighted this provision noted in the Providence Journal’s summary of the RI House Finance Committee’s supplemental budget plan: The budget would also change a school funding “maintenance of effort” provision that requires cities and towns to provide at least as much local money for school as was provided the year…
Two approaches to returning services to Cranston schools have emerged, and it’s conceivable that they highlight the natural line dividing all various budgetary disputes at the town level: [Mike] Stenhouse’s admittedly “more aggressive” stance on political issues caused a rift this week with an earlier local partner, BASICS (Benefiting All Students In Cranston Schools), a…
For those who are interested, I’m liveblogging from a special Tiverton Town Council meeting, which is including discussion of proposing legislation to the General Assembly that would allow cities and towns to delay final budgetary decisions for up to 90 days in order to procure more accurate information about revenue.
Here’s the decision from Superior Court Justice Silverstein: PDF. About halfway through the document, it appears that Silverstein would draw his lines very tightly around his ruling in favor of the school committee: Under the language of § 16-2-9 a school committee must bargain in good faith with certified public school teachers in accordance with…
A certain faction in Tiverton, working with the town solicitor, is striving to make it as easy as possible for the town to exceed the 3050 statewide cap on municipal tax levies. I’ve got background and video up on the TCC Web site, and I’ll be liveblogging over there during tonight’s town council meeting, at…
What’s this? [Lincoln] Town Administrator T. Joseph Almond is recommending a $70.1-million budget for the next fiscal year that would reduce the tax levy and scale back the School Committee’s budget request. The bottom line for the municipal and school budgets would increase by $123,015 in the fiscal year that starts July 1, but Almond…