Rhode Island Politics
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…
RI General Treasurer Gina Raimondo uses an apt metaphor to describe the significance of the state’s public pension problem: “If you remember one thing from me this afternoon, remember this,” Raimondo said, speaking bluntly: “fixing this state’s pension system is not an issue, it is the issue. Our state retirement debt is an anchor holding…
I don’t know Providence finances well enough to quibble with Mayor Angel Tavares’s budget proposal, but in emphasis and presentation it stands in stark contrast to Governor Lincoln Chafee. Tavares led with controversial and concrete initiatives for spending reduction, while Chafee led with a massive tax increase. Maybe they’ll get to the same place —…
Further to Marc’s post about Rhode Island’s junior senator going around baselessly alarming seniors, in the other Congressional chamber, Rhode Island’s First District congressman was almost exultant last week about Paul Ryan’s proposals to modify Social Security and Medicare. “It’s interesting,” Cicilline said Tuesday during a half-hour interview with WPRI.com in his Pawtucket district office.…
The report on the Cicilline Adminstration’s fiscal inadequacies has dropped. The major findings, according to the ProJo: — “The Administration transferred funds from the Undesignated Surplus (Rainy-Day Fund) without approval of a majority vote of the City Council as required.” — “The Administration did not provide financial information on a timely basis to the independent…
No one likes to be though of as hard-hearted. But in an effort to find places to cut–to reduce our “obligations”–we simply need to take a closer look at our Human Services budget, which has $2.1 Billion (federal and state) in “assistance, grants and benefits” alone. Within that budget is the spending requested for the…
Speaker Fox and the various members of the Democratic leadership say the Chafee plan is dead…..Right? “I’m not going to swear on any Bible about revenue enhancements at this point,” Fox said. “Before we go to the taxpayers and say we need to increase your taxes, we need to build some credibility with them to…
One can’t call the vote “party line” because Rhode Island’s Pension Review Board is technically non-partisan, but as Marc observed on Wednesday, the vote to bring investment estimates closer to what the pension fund has actually been earning nearly fell along what might be called a “union picket line” vote. Basically, the question was about…
Before the news cycle moves on, I’d like to highlight the following, from Philip Marcelo’s story on the tax-increase dispute: One floor up from where business leaders gathered, in a room adjacent to his office, the governor repeated his challenge to detractors: provide an alternative solution, and be specific. … Chafee rejected business leaders’ arguments…
As Monique noted last night, Speaker of the House Gordon Fox came out against Governor Chafee’s sales tax plan. This morning I heard Helen Glover wondering if there was room for Fox to wiggle by keeping the 6% “flatten and broaden”. After all, Fox only specifically cited the 1% tax on new items, not the…