American taxpayers are feeding a voracious monster that threatens their very existence. Much like the unwitting tourist that feeds a wild animal only to whet its insatiable appetite, American taxpayers are funding a government bureaucracy that, at its current and projected growth rate, will eventually consume the private sector.

Now, with the release of a study drawing attention to the disparity in pay and benefits between the public and private sectors, the seriousness of the situation is finally being brought into full view.

GetLiberty.org: Feeding the Monster

Providence seeks student tax at private colleges

PROVIDENCE — Students attending the city’s four private colleges and universities may have to pay a $300-a-year tax, under a proposal floated by Mayor David N. Cicilline to generate revenue for the cash-strapped capital city.

Cicilline has been quietly meeting with student-government representatives and university presidents from Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson & Wales University and Providence College to garner support for the proposal, which has generated considerable debate on college campuses.

Feeding the Monster

American taxpayers are feeding a voracious monster that threatens their very existence. Much like the unwitting tourist that feeds a wild animal only to whet its insatiable appetite, American taxpayers are funding a government bureaucracy that, at its current and projected growth rate, will eventually consume the private sector.

Now, with the release of a study drawing attention to the disparity in pay and benefits between the public and private sectors, the seriousness of the situation is finally being brought into full view.

Tom Parker: Tiverton Citizens Must Attend May 9 Financial Town Meeting to Prevent 'Surprises'

2009 property revaluations have been mailed out in Tiverton, and if you listen carefully you can hear a collective sigh of relief across the town:  “My property value has gone down, my taxes must be going down.  Life is good, and I’m safe, at least for the time being, from the insatiable tax demands of the Tiverton government.  For once, I can relax…right?”  Actually, no.  Unfortunately, things are not what they seem. There are two good reasons why you need to pay careful attention.

First, the letter we taxpayers got in the mail was our property revaluation, and, indeed, for many of us it is significantly lower than the previous assessment (my own decreased about $120,000).   The tax RATE is the other key component in the final calculation of YOUR property tax bill. The FY2009 tax rate proposed by the Budget Committee is $14.73/1000.  This is a $3.47/1000 increase (31%) over the current tax rate of $11.26/1000.  So even if your assessment has gone down, your taxes could substantially increase.  In my case, even though my assessment decreased $120,000 (14%), I estimate my tax bill will increase by over $1,100 (12%).

Secondly, but much more frightening, any voter can make a motion from the floor during the upcoming Tiverton Financial Town Meeting to increase the budget, for any reason, by any amount.  If a majority at the FTM approves it, that motion becomes law-- bypassing months of intense work by the Town Council, School Committee and Budget Committee.  Presto! Your taxes go up by this additional amount.  Rumor has it that there is going to be a motion from the floor to increase your property tax dollars going to the school department by $500,000.  Also, there’s an outrageous petition to buy a new fire truck (which wasn’t addressed in the Fire Department’s budget submission and which the Town’s fire chief apparently didn’t even know about) at the cost of $110,290 per year for ten years.  Ask yourself:  what other “good ideas” are going to bubble up at the FTM?

There is always an asymmetry at the FTM, where well organized public employee special interest groups attempt to pack the hall with their members and friends and block vote themselves more money (or a new fire truck that the town doesn’t need).  If more that 50 percent of the FTM approves the motion, it becomes law, and your taxes go up…again. (Surprise!)  You can be absolutely certain that those Town employees who desire more money will be there, carefully organized and fully prepared to vote to jack up your taxes as high as they can. 

For your own self protection you need to come to the Tiverton FTM on 9 May at 9 AM (come a little earlier to park and get a seat) at the high school.  Vote NO for ANY budget increase from the floor; vote NO for the un-needed fire truck; vote YES for a secret ballot vote.  So come (be certain to bring your friends) and vote.  Help restore sanity to Tiverton’s budget, especially during these troubled economic times.   

Tom Parker, Tiverton

Mr. Parker is a member of the Tiverton Budget Committee

Marc Crisafulli: How to make the EDC work better

RHODE ISLAND has not been fostering economic development and creating jobs at acceptable levels for well over a decade, and probably longer. Unfortunately, that is not newsworthy, as everyone in the state freely acknowledges that disappointing reality.

What is newsworthy, however, is that Rhode Island state leaders are trying to reverse that trend without old-school politics, attribution of blame or the burdens of low expectations and pessimism. Instead, Governor Carcieri, House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed made public a series of recommendations prepared by us, the Economic Development Corporation Review Panel, that are designed to take a new approach with respect to economic development. Only time will tell if they are successful at delivering true change, but this collaborative effort is certainly a good start.

Robert Riley: Of course it was healthier

A letter to the editor on March 22 by Brian Wilder states that the Rhode Island economy was much healthier in the 1950s.

He’s right! There was no state income tax or sales tax. What this state needs is less spending on all these social programs.

Why do you think people are moving to Florida, Nevada and Texas — where there’s no income tax?

ROBERT RILEY

Cranston

Charlestown: Budget plan hearing set for Monday

By LIZ ABBOTT
 Sun Staff Writer
  CHARLESTOWN — A public hearing is set for Monday night on a proposed budget of $23.9 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The proposed budget is $131,145 higher than this year’s spending plan and would raise the tax levy by 3.5 percent. The hearing will get un­derway at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at Town Hall.
  The new budget involves “no layoffs, no pay cuts, no raises, no new hires and lesser tax in­creases than our 4.75 percent [allowed by state law],” said Henry L. Heminway, chairman of the budget commission. It takes into account ex­pected cuts in state aid, as well as declining rev­enues that can be tied to the recession, but at the same time it keeps town spending to a min­imum; municipal spending increases by less than one percent under the proposed spending plan.
  The Town Council recently made minor changes to the proposal, but council members didn’t change the bottom line. The council’s changes included the following: • Reducing monies for dues and subscriptions in the town treasurer’s budg­et by $600, from $1,100 to $500.
  • Cutting an allocation for the South Shore Mental Health Center by $500, from $4,000 to $3,500.
  • Adding $500 to the Rhode Island Center Assist­ing those in Need (formerly the St. Mary’s/St. James Food Pantry), bringing the total to $3,500.
  • Taking $1,000 normally set aside for the town’s Memorial Day Parade and adding it to the Conservation Commission’s allocation, bringing the total amount to $2,500.
  • Adding $600 to the $80,000 set aside for special legal services.
  Before the council made these adjustments, the budg­et commission cut funding to outside agencies such as the South Shore Mental Health Center. The center’s aid will be cut by a total of $1,450, 6.4 percent. Other affected agencies include Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Is­land, which will lose a $750 contribution from the town, the Wood-Pawcatuck Wa­tershed Association, which will lose $600, and South County Community Action, whose allocation was cut $1,500, from $2,000 to $500. The outside agencies weren’t the only ones to take a hit. The proposed budget slashes spending on capital improvements by $84,511, or 29.2 percent. In addition, the police department’s budget was cut by $60,476, or 2.8 percent, allocations to the town’s boards and com­missions were reduced by 26 percent, and the town coun­cil’s contingency fund was cut by $42,153, or by 63.9 percent.
  “Almost all departments are level or less,” Heminway told the council, when he submitted the proposed budget plan.
  This year’s budget process was complicated by uncer­tainty and delay surround­ing state aid. This uncer­tainty, and the town’s dwin­dling revenue stream, led the council to approve a resolu­tion that would allow taking funds from the $4.1 million surplus to help the town survive the budget crunch without increasing the bur­den on taxpayers. Voters would have to approve this action at special referen­dum in June. Another complication was the defeat by voters last month of the proposed budg­et for the Chariho Regional School District budget. Are­vised budget of $53.1 million, which is $247,835 less than the budget that had been re­jected, will go before the vot­ers again on May 12. But, in the meantime, Charlestown had to go ahead with its budget process, resulting in the fact that the budget that will be discussed Monday night does not have a defi­nite figure for Chariho schools.
  eabbott@thewesterlysun.com

Friday Five: Gambling Researcher John Warren Kindt

For years, a group of doctoral-level academics has been compiling data that exposes the truth about gambling.

Leading the effort — which has been in the works for 20 years — is John Warren Kindt, professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois.

The hefty, three-volume United States International Gambling Report took five years to compile and is intended to serve as a warning, Kindt said.

"The United States and the international economies are headed in the wrong direction thinking that gambling will help them," he said. "It's Economics 101 that you cannot gamble your way to prosperity. But you can gamble your way into more recessions and even depression."

New Film Shatters the Myth that “Good” Schools Are Found in “Nice” Neighborhoods

Not as Good as You Think: The Myth of the Middle Class School is a documentary that shatters the myth that “good” schools located in “nice” neighborhoods are shielded from the education crisis that pervades schools in poor, urban areas. Using available data on school performance and interviews with parents, students, principals, and school reformers, Not as Good as You Think confirms every parent’s silent fear: that their financial sacrifice and investment in an expensive home in a “good” school district is not yielding the achievement results needed to get their kids in good colleges and good jobs.