Woonsocket

In yesterday’s dead tree edition of the Woonsocket Call (on-line edition sometimes behind a paywall), Russ Olivo reported that, on Monday, Woonsocket will meet with the city’s 780 retirees. On the agenda is the fiscal necessity to shift all retirees to Medicare at age 65 and to abolish the pension COLA for the 250 retirees…

When he was about to share a particularly outrageous or egregious item, Glenn Beck used to admonish his listeners to wrap their heads in duct tape so that clean up would be easier when their heads exploded upon hearing the item. The Valley Breeze’s Sandy Phaneuf should have provided a similar preface to her just…

Woonsocket’s Mayor and City Council have proposed a 13% supplemental tax as an immediate solution to their city’s short-term fiscal crisis. They have also proposed building the supplemental amount into the city’s revenue baseline to help address longer term structural deficits. At the behest of the Woonsocket’s state representatives, the Rhode Island legislature rejected this…

So said Council President Budget Commission member John Ward on the air Friday to RIPR. If we can’t get negotiated settlements, we’re simply going to have to do much like Providence did and simply do it by ordinance. And we”ll freeze the COLA and we’ll change the health benefits, and we’ll cut salaries across the…

So they voted just this evening. Woonsocket school officials have asked the Rhode Island Department of Education to take control of their schools. In a meeting Wednesday night, the school committee voted 4 to 1 to draft a letter to Commissioner Gist seeking assistance. The vote comes after the General Assembly failed to pass a…

This morning saw dueling press releases, both issued shortly before 4 am. They were in reference to negotiations between the Woonsocket delegation of state representatives, including Jon Brien and Lisa “You’re cute” Baldelli-Hunt, and Governor Chafee. Rosemary Booth-Gallogly, the state’s Director of Revenue and Leo Fontaine, Woonsocket’s mayor, have come to the conclusion that one…

Here are the statements made by Woonsocket City Councilors and Mayor Leo Fontaine, prior to the vote to request a budget commission to oversee the city. The summaries with audio clip are my characterization’s of each councilor’s remarks, from the liveblog written during the meeting…[7:04] Mayor Leo Fontaine speaks 1st. Recounting the short-term cash-flow problems…

Once you start covering one of these civic stories, you have to seem them through, so here am I at tonight’s special Sunday night meeting of the Woonsocket City Council, to discuss the aftermath of the General Assembly’s tabling of the supplemental tax bill… [7:02] Meeting called to order. [7:03] Budget commission resolution is up…

The Woonsocket Legislative Brain Trust (Jon Brien, Robert Phillips, Lisa-Susan Menard-Baldelli-Hunt) has submitted this wonderful piece of legislation to the Rhode Island General Assembly, apparently as an alternative to the supplemental tax proposed by the Woonsocket City Council…45-21-67. Application of pension funds to reduce tax levy. – Any city or town, or any municipal agency…

An alert Andrew noticed this. [Woonsocket] Taxpayers won’t be getting that supplemental tax bill after all. At the urging of state Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt on Thursday afternoon, the bill was recommitted to committee, essentially killing it. Her reasoning? An emotional Baldelli-Hunt, a Democrat who represents Woonsocket, told House members that Mayor Leo Fontaine had not…