Central Falls
Former Judge Mark A. Pfeiffer, appointed as receiver for troubled Central Falls, has come out with his recommendation (PDF): merge Central Falls with Pawtucket (via 7to7). “The problems are so severe that they cannot be solved solely through efficiencies and additional revenue at the city level,” he wrote. ” … state action is required if…
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…
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…
If I Were a Betting Man, I’d Bet On Judge Michael Silverstein Throwing Out the New Receivership Law…
…or at least significant chunks of it. I opine this after reading John Hill‘s report in today’s Projo which highlighted a particular line of questioning asked during yesterday’s oral arguments on the constitutionality of the municipal receivership law, to the lawyer for Central Falls receiver Mark Pfeiffer…[Judge Silverstein] pressed [lawyer Theodore Orson] on the lack…
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’ve been meaning to comment on the latest development in the governance of Central Falls: the city council’s decision to hire an independent lawyer, apparently without knowing how it will pay the bill if Receiver-King Mark Pfeiffer, appointed by the state, refuses to allow it. The move by the council is a reaction to state-appointed…
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,…
Will John Hill‘s reporting in today’s Projo help convince people that suspending democratic governance really doesn’t address the source of the fiscal problems we have here in Rhode Island…The court-appointed law firm that oversaw [Central Falls’] finances from May to July has advised the state the bill for its two months of work and other…
If there are going to be public-sector pensions, then judges should receive reasonable ones, and somebody being paid to turn around a failing municipality should be compensated well for undertaking the responsibility, but state Senator William Walaska (D, Warwick) has a point about the amounts involved in Central Falls: I was outraged when I read…