Tiverton
I was a few minutes late (again), and I’ve got some new technology that’s taking me a while to work through. Luckily (in this limited context) one of the topics in which I was particularly interested — Rep. John Loughlin’s update on state budget developments — will not occur. Apparently, Portsmouth is more important. (Just…
In a comment to my post about Tiverton school officials’ ambiguous admission of intimidation by the National Education Association, Cranstoner Donald Botts relates the following anecdote: My take on their comments was that the union was attempting to use intimidation tactics against them, but they either were not intimidated or didn’t want to admit they…
The bottom line for Tiverton — indeed, for all of Rhode Island — came into stark relief at last night’s Budget Committee meeting. The town’s infrastructure is crumbling. Taxes have been skyrocketing. The schools are laying off teachers and talking about cutting into services. And town officials are insisting that there is simply no way…
Tonight is my first Tiverton Budget Committee meeting (public-access television excepted), which means I’m not in the utter minority of the room. Town Hall is actually pretty well populated — moreso than for many Town Council meetings. Of course, it helps that the entire School Committee is here to argue (or not) for their proposed…
In Portsmouth, they’re debating whether a 5% reduction in town spending should be a “goal” or a “mandate”: After a freeze in discretionary spending for what remains of this fiscal year, Portsmouth will try to cut spending by 5 percent in the next fiscal year. The Portsmouth Town Council voted 6-0 Monday evening to make…
With other contributors covering the state of the state and the hoopla in East Providence, I’m at the Tiverton School Committee meeting, to which I arrived in the midst of Superintendent Bill Rearick’s description of the various cuts to come for the next budget — you know, the one that increased by about $150,000 when…
A very tight ’round-the-state schedule today made attending the Tiverton Town Council meeting difficult, but there was an item on the agenda that I very much wanted to follow: Discussion with Honorable Representatives Jay Edwards and John Loughlin III and Honorable Senators Walter Felag, Jr. and Louis DiPalma Regarding the Governor’s Proposed Cut in Aid…
Of the three hours of Tiverton town council budget workshop discussion, the only mildly animated discussion came toward the beginning, regarding the fire department’s budget. Here are two snippets: Discussing the union’s refusal to lower minimum manning, space their vacations, or forgo their recent pay raise: stream, download. The first voice is Fire Chief Robert…
Oddly, the Saturday morning budget workshop of the Tiverton Town Council has plenty of open seats, despite the box of donuts provided by Councilor Jay Lambert. I note, also, that the meeting did not begin early. 10:11 a.m. The upshot of the hot-off-the-presses new “administrator recommended” budget is an increase of the municipal budget from…
I’m increasingly noticing the degree to which procedural minutia affect the balance of power in the disputes resolved among the lower tiers of government. The reality was stark at the last financial town meeting in Tiverton, but even in the day-to-day operations, one must weave through various traps and catches in order to bring about…
