Handful of voters (2.5% of registered) decide Tiverton budget

Town values up; tax rate goes down

By Tom Killin Dalglish
Posted 5/21/17

TIVERTON —Just 321 Tiverton voters, out of a total of 12,809 registered voters in town, cast their ballots during Saturday's 2017 Financial Town Referendum (FTR), to approve a total town and school budget for the next fiscal year (FY-18).

Because the budget measure on the ballot, formally titled "Budget Committee's Budget Proposal," was the only budget on the ballot, the 2.5 % of the electors who voted approvingly didn't have much choice.

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Handful of voters (2.5% of registered) decide Tiverton budget

Town values up; tax rate goes down

Posted

TIVERTON —Just 321 Tiverton voters, out of a total of 12,809 registered voters in town, cast their ballots during Saturday's 2017 Financial Town Referendum (FTR), to approve a total town and school budget for the next fiscal year (FY-18).
Because the budget measure on the ballot, formally titled "Budget Committee's Budget Proposal," was the only budget on the ballot, the 2.5 % of the electors who voted approvingly didn't have much choice.
Last year, 2,396 electors cast ballots at the FTR; there were three proposed budgets on the ballot.
The new budget voted for this year is preliminarily projected to reduce the tax rate for next year to $19.05 per thousand dollars of value, says Tiverton Tax Assessor Dave Robert.
That's down from this year's current rate of $19.14. he says. The "lower rate is due to a higher valuation growth than had been anticipated," he said.
On a home valued at $300,000, the reduction in the tax rate, from the current year to next year's rate, would reduce a property owner's tax burden from $5,742 to $5,715 — a $27 difference.
The now FTR-approved FY-18 budget sets a figure of $29.9 million for the schools and $19.5 million for municipal operations and capital expenses.
The voting yesterday approved a property tax levy of not to exceed $38.4 million, an increase of 0.5%
over last year's, and is inclusive of motor vehicle and real and tangible property taxes.
Vote ends bitter battle
Saturday's FTR brings to a close, for now at least, a bitter dispute — one that it took the courts to resolve — between the Tiverton Budget Committee majority, whose approved budget it was that went on Saturday's ballot, and an alternative budget put forth by four petitioners.
The petitioners were Sally A. Black and Dr. Jerome M. Larkin (both school committee members — Dr. Larkin is the committee chairman), and Joan Chabot and Randy Lebeau (both town council members — Ms. Chabot is council president).
The failed petitioner's budget, said the petitioners, would have "restored funding cut by the Tiverton Budget Committee from the original budget proposals made in January 2017 by the Tiverton Town Council and Tiverton School Committee."
The petitioners had claimed their budget would have appropriated $248,499 more to the schools, and $59,461 more to the town, than the budget committee's budget.
Budget committee cuts, the petitioners said, "were in funding to library services, the waste water treatment program, appropriations to community service organizations such as the Visiting Nurses Association, East Bay Community Action Program, Parents as Teachers and Newport County Women's Resources which provide the safety net for our most vulnerable citizens, the winter recreation program and the school department."
The petitioners' budget proposal was invalidated by a unanimous vote of the Tiverton Board of Canvassers — a decision that was upheld by the Newport County Superior Court — and was not certified for, and did not appear on, Saturday's FTR ballot.
Reactions to the FTR outcome
"The numbers are correct," said Tiverton School Superintendent William Rearick, referring to the claims made by the petitioners in support of their proposed budget that failed to make the ballot.
"Since voters only have one option, the school department will need to make up the difference. The school committee will be addressing this matter at its May 23rd meeting." (After this paper goes to press.)
"The budgets of the school department and library are already so generous that they should be able to maintain all services given the budget committee's budget," said Justin Katz, a budget committee member and one of the architects of the budget on the ballot that won approval Saturday.
"The municipal side's reduction was so minimal, combined with other income, that every priority of the Town Council will be funded," he said.
"I continue to believe,' Mr. Katz said, "that the school department has been running a structural surplus for five years or so, resulting in its $3.5 million fund balance at the end of the last fiscal year, and that is can proceed with no changes to services whatsoever."
"The budget that was approved is another example of a budget that lacks long term vision and planning," said Mike Burk, a former school committee member and vice-chairman, and one of those opposing the budget committee's budget.
"It focuses on short term gains for individuals while failing to recognize the full needs of our community as a whole," he said. "While Justin Katz and the other authors of the committee budget try to cloak themselves in the guise of protectors of the average taxpayer, they are simply charlatans who want to force our community into bankruptcy in hopes that this will help them achieve their goals of shifting town services to a fee-based system, that only those with adequate incomes can afford, and that breaks public unions."
Voting at the FTR: a showdown, or failure to show?
Saturday's FTR voter turnout — a total of 441 voters cast ballots — was just 3.4% of all the registered voters in town. Of the 441 casting ballots, 314 actually went to the polls in the high school Saturday; a total of 127 voters "mailed it in" or voted absentee.
Of the 441 who cast ballots at the high school Saturday, only 321 (or 73%) voted on the budget issue. Because there was only one budget on the ballot, it's fair to conclude that 27% of those who went to the FTR polls Saturday decided not to vote on the budget — there was no way they could otherwise vote on the issue.
Town Clerk Nancy Mello whose office managed the entire all-day Saturday FTR (and the days before) said staffing Saturday included two employees at Town Hall and 10 paid election staff at Tiverton High School.
Budget committee, town council resolutions
Voters approved eight budget committee resolutions, two town council resolutions, and one petitioner resolution, by percentages that paralleled those for the budget.
• BC resolve #1: expense and revenue budgets, as approved, become Tiverton General Fund budgets for 2018: 313 approved, 100 rejected;
• BC resolve #2: capital accounts to be restricted, no transfers: 344 approved, 69 rejected;
• BC resolve #3: funds budgeted for revaluation to go into a restricted account: 332 approved, 92 reject;
• BC resolve #4: funds budgeted for elections and FTR to go into restricted account: 339 approve, 79 reject;
• BC resolve #5: funds budgeted for paving/road repair to go into restricted account: 370 approve, 46 reject;
• BC resolve #6: funds budget for drainage to go into restricted drainage account: 355 approve, 56 reject;
• BC resolve #7: unencumbered funds at end of fiscal year (June 30) go into General Fund, except DPW unencumbered go into paving/road repair: 347 approve, 74 reject;
• BC resolve #8: left over municipal funds at end of fiscal year go 25% to restricted paving/road repair fund, 25% to restricted capital expenses: 312 approve, 109 reject.
• TC resolve #1: of any proceeds from sale of Industrial Park land, no less than 25% to go to restricted account for park development: 319 approve, 102 reject;
• TC resolve #2: net proceeds from sale of Essex Library to be applied to library debt service: 325 approve, 94 reject
• Petitioner resolve: town council "authorized and directed" (again) to sell Essex Library" at "fair market value:" approve 368, reject 56.

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