Rhode Island Politics

Local Town Drama in East Greenwich

By | March 30, 2006 | Comments Off on Local Town Drama in East Greenwich

Last week, there was a thoughtful editorial in the North East Independent newspaper, entitled Seniors need tax help, in which the writer argued that the seniors need assistance from the town of East Greenwich and are asking for a tax freeze. A story in this week’s edition talks about the upcoming April 4 public meeting…

Casino Revenue and Property Tax Relief

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 24, 2006 |

In today’s Projo, Katherine Gregg reports on figures provided by Rhode Island’s casino supporters describing how taxes on gambling revenues might be used to provide property-tax relief to Rhode Island cities and towns. Unfortunately, a figure discussed by state budget analyst Peder Schaefer (who is very skeptical of the casino advocates’ analysis) is presented in…

Quick Eminent Domain & Tax-Lien Reform Update

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 23, 2006 | Comments Off on Quick Eminent Domain & Tax-Lien Reform Update

According to Rhode Island Senate Press Secretary Greg Pare, Tuesday’s Judiciary Committee vote tallies in favor of holding the three tax-lien reform and four eminent domain reform bills for further study were all unanimous. Since the sponsors of three of the bills are on the Juidicary Committee; Senators Harold Metts (D-Providence), Rhoda Perry (D-Providence), and…

Eminent Domain Reform: Senate Votes to Hold All Bills “For Further Study”

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 22, 2006 | Comments Off on Eminent Domain Reform: Senate Votes to Hold All Bills “For Further Study”

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted last night to hold all 4 eminent domain reform bills (the Governor’s bill, the Lieutenant Governor’s bill, the Attorney General’s bill, and the Cote/Badeau/Breene bill) before the committee “for further study”, meaning that the Senate is not required to take any further action on them this session. Whether this means…

Bill Harsch Makes it Official

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 17, 2006 |

Republican Bill Harsch officially kicks off his campaign for Rhode Island Attorney General at noon today, at the Garden Room at the Biltmore in Providence.

Rhode Island Politics & Taxation, Part XXIII: Ranking a Dismal 48th in our Business Tax Climate

By | March 3, 2006 |

In an article entitled Research group finds state’s business-tax climate dismal: Rhode Island gets poor marks for its high unemployment -insurance tax, high property taxes and high personal-income taxes, we have yet another example of how the economic policies of Rhode Island are miserably ineffective: Rhode Island has one of the most unfriendly business-tax climates…

Eminent Domain Update: And Then There Were Six

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 3, 2006 |

There are now at least six different eminent reform bills before the Rhode Island legislature that, if enacted, would ban, limit, or regulate the government’s ability to take private property from one owner and give it to another owner in the name of economic development. Three of the bills are reasonable, one is obsolete, and…

Gary S. Ezovski: Better schools — Tie teacher pay to family income

By | February 21, 2006 | Comments Off on Gary S. Ezovski: Better schools — Tie teacher pay to family income

Gary Ezovski, Chairman of the North Smithfield School Committee, offers these thoughts in a recent ProJo editorial: I can comfortably say that I have yet to hear a suggestion that will solve the schools-budget challenge in our community or throughout the state… The business of education is nearly 80-percent labor. Payroll and benefits are where…

Casino on the Johnston Landfill?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | February 4, 2006 |

Arthur Kimball-Stanley reports in today’s Projo that a casino developer is interested in building a casino on or near the site of the Johnston Landfill (will the hook be “The Stinkiest Casino in the East”? How about “Johnston: A Place for Solid Waste and Clean Fun”)…The casino project pitched for [Johnston] Thursday night includes a…

Beacon Mutual Revisited

By Marc Comtois | February 3, 2006 |

I’ve tried to keep my eye on Beacon Mutual’s bid to privatize–and thus remove government oversight–and have posted a couple times (here & here) on why I’m not sure it’s a good idea. The Governor isn’t too keen on it either. In short, BM is a government-funded entity that was created to serve a specific…