Rhode Island Economy
Here’s a little nugget of insight that deserves broader comment. Apparently, Rhode Island is having a difficult time filling the open position of Director of Health: In a phone interview, [former director David] Gifford said that a number of prospective applicants had contacted him with questions. The salary, he said, is an issue, but not…
Looking at RIPEC’s state budget projections, Ted Nesi explains how a “budget on autopilot” is untenable no matter what the entity–towns, cities, states, the country. You can also read “autopilot” to mean “assumptions.” Yet, the assumptions built into these budgets–3% raises, increase in program costs, etc.–aren’t even enough to cover the rate of growth, which…
For good reason, it’s easy to focus on the bad around here. But there are positive signs every now and then. As reported by WPRO, TACO, Inc. has gone ahead and broken ground on a new expansion: the “Innovation and Development Center”. Obviously John Hazen White Jr., owner of TACO, is confident the budgeted costs…
Whenever a rating agency lowers their estimate of the ability of a state to pay back its bonds, the interest rates the state pays go up. Moody’s just lowered its rating for Rhode Island. Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the outlook on Rhode Island bonds to negative from stable because of “the potential impact of…
Many Rhode Islanders aren’t completely sold on the economic benefits of giving away tax credits to TV and movie productions, and some of those who are seem to think the benefit has more to do with notoriety. Still, it’s reasonable to count this as high-profile evidence of the effect of attempting to solve the Rhode…
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:…
At first, I was just bothered by the passivity evidenced in the first sentence of the following paragraph: Because Rhode Island’s economy is interconnected with the regional and national economies, the slowdown in the national economic recovery in the first quarter of 2011 affected Rhode Island, according to the [Bryant University-RIPEC] report. The U.S. Gross…
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…
So, Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns Executive Director Dan Beardsley is warning of the large dollar amounts that state and local taxpayers are going to have to begin paying if the state Retirement Board approves actuarial recommendations: The Retirement Board, which is chaired by General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, is set to vote Wednesday…
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…