To the editor:

Following the FTR vote, the Budget Committee re-convened on June 9 to carry out its remand responsibility to "determine docket line items(s) in accordance with said petition originator's budget proposal"( Budget #2) as mandated by Section703 (7) of the Tiverton Home Rule Charter.

Some, including Louise Durfee, had threatened not to come and participate in this Charter-mandated exercise. However, ten of the 11 Budget Committee members (all but Joshua Mello) were present.

From comments made by some at the beginning of the meeting, one would have thought a few hateful, errant voters had staged a coup. But, finally, the Budget Committee did get down to the task at hand, and by the end of that evening had managed to make downwards adjustments to the municipal budget of $631,435 which was 84% toward the voter mandate of $782,895.

Louise Durfee had raised the idea of eliminating curbside trash pickup to reduce spending and increasing the fee for the bags as a way of raising more revenue. Town Administrator Matt Wojcik reminded us that the contract for our curbside pickup doesn't expire until July, 2018. And Town Solicitor DeSisto warned there could be litigation (an additional budget expense) should the contract be altered. Further discussion of any trash option was continued to the next meeting on June 14.

I, for one, came prepared with five pages of possible additional adjustment options, well in excess of the mere 14% we needed to reduce. Louise Durfee opened the meeting with a presentation by her, and Denise Saurette, the town treasurer with whom Ms. Durfee had met, of her proposal to reduce trash pick-up by $500,000, and raise fees for bags. In their proposed plan residents would have to pay an additional fee for trash pick-up, or drive their trash to the dump. In contrast, my list of "tender scalpel,” non-painful adjustments out of which the Budget Committee could easily have selected to achieve the final 14% was never even considered. At one point, when I again repeated my request to have the Budget Committee consider my options before eliminating the trash budget, Louise Durfee stated my list "won't carry the day here".

So, to the majority (55%) of Tiverton taxpayers who came to the polls and voted for Budget #2, I apologize for the haughty and vengeful way in which your desire for lower taxes was addressed. (Once the $500,000 was taken from the trash, the frenzy with which your Budget Committee majority re-funded budget items, was a wonder to behold.) In favor of eliminating $500,000 from the trash budget, the Budget Committee majority cast aside, without consideration or discussion, the many non-painful, sensible options that were voted on the previous week and ignored my proposed adjustment list, a list CoChair Cecil Leonard stated contained "line items which she [Ms. Driggs] delineated very well for us." Louise Durfee controlled this outcome, "so everyone can shoulder the burden" of what the majority of voters chose.

Nancy L. Driggs

Member, Tiverton Budget Committee