Back in January, the Town Council agreed to adopt a policy clarifying its role as the governing body for purposes of supermajority protections against exceeding the property tax cap provided by state law. While the initial proposal was to change state law to remove this protection altogether, the Town Council ultimately settled upon a course where they would be held accountable with a supermajority vote before attempting to break the tax cap. TCC applauded the Town Council for agreeing to this course, and we now encourage them to see it through.
This is an important step forward for taxpayer rights and we encourage concerned citizens to attend the Town Council meeting 7PM, Monday, March 8th . to voice their continued support for a policy and ordinance which confirms the taxpayer protection provided by state law. Breaking the tax cap is and should be an extraordinary event, and TCC supports following state law to require a supermajority vote by our town council before trying to do so.
Because the current budget proposals by the town council and school committee would require a tax increase of approximately 12% for the coming year, this issue could have immediate relevance to the upcoming financial town meeting.
Here is a link to the Tiverton Tax Cap Policy developed by the Town’s lawyer Andy Teitz : Tiverton Cap Policy Draft 03052010
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