Both of the local newspapers are reporting the achievement of the Budget Committee in bringing the town’s overall budget under the 4.5% levy cap. In the Sakonnet Times, Tom Killin Dalglish provides more detail about the list of cuts that committee member Cynthia Nebergall produced and the committee approved, but Marcia Pobzeznik’s Newport Daily News article (online with subscription), includes this important point (emphasis added):
Committee Chairman Jeffrey Caron read a statement into the record recounting the times he asked Town Administrator James Goncalo to make cuts and present them to the committee so they would not have to make cuts without guidance. Goncalo said the budget he presented was “a fair representation of what was needed to maintain services.” He noted there were no salary increases for any of the labor unions. The cuts to numerous line items were made because the committee has been told that it cannot touch salary accounts for labor, Budget Committee Vice Chairman Robert Coulter said. Salary costs account for the greatest percentage of the budget and if unions agreed to concessions, the other accounts would not have to be impacted, he said.
The roughly 4.5% increase in property taxes covers the expected loss in state aid almost within $1,000, so all of the cuts in the Budget Committee’s proposal are being made to compensate for increases in spending elsewhere — increases like step raises for teachers and increasing healthcare costs for all employees. That’s simply got to change. There’s no way around it.
And there are two ways to get there:
- Forcing current elected and appointed officials to learn the lesson through a few cycles of contract negotiations and painful cuts to services, school programs, and town activities, which TCC does not favor and would like to avoid.
- Replacing the elected officials with people who already understand that town government is not a jobs program for privileged individuals.
Loading ...