Letter: Budget Committee fought for Tiverton taxpayers

Posted 4/25/17

To the editor:

The agenda for the February 16, 2017, Budget Committee meeting had, as item 1, "Revisit the Tiverton charter under Budget Committee duties and responsibilities and section 1207 oath …

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Letter: Budget Committee fought for Tiverton taxpayers

Posted

To the editor:

The agenda for the February 16, 2017, Budget Committee meeting had, as item 1, "Revisit the Tiverton charter under Budget Committee duties and responsibilities and section 1207 oath of office." The approved minutes for that meeting indicate the following people spoke at the public forum portion of the meeting: Kathleen Gallagher, Janet Linhares, Sally Black, Gloria Crist, Emily McHugh, and Eileen Browning. It is my hope they also heard the immediately ensuing discussion by the Budget Committee of its Town Charter duties and responsibilities and their section 1207 oath of office.

Town Charter for Budget Committee, Article VII, Section 703, Duties and Responsibilities states, in relevant part, "2.) To review the budgets submitted by the Town Administrator and the School Department, in which review the Committee shall consider both the supporting evidence for each requested budget expenditure and the ability of the Town to support the level of service recommended. 3.) To provide the electorate with budget recommendations which balance the value of the proposed goods and services with their cost in taxes." Section 1207 of the Charter states in relevant part that every officer of the town, ". . . will, in all respects, observe the provisions of the Charter and ordinances of the Town of Tiverton, and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office . . ."

It is important, first, to take careful notice of the disparate charter requirements. The town administrator and the School Department "request" expenditures, but it is the Budget Committee, after considering the supporting evidence for the request and the ability of the town to support that level of service, that is charged with making "recommendations" that balance the value of the proposed goods and services with their cost in taxes.

Second, it is important to take note of the multiplicity of considerations that must form the basis for Budget Committee recommendations. This is, and should be, a grueling process. It is the duty of the Budget Committee members to ask probing and difficult questions of the town bodies and other entities seeking taxpayer dollars. To not undertake such analysis, worse yet, to accept at face value each request in an effort to show support for the person or entity requesting taxpayer funds, would be a violation of the oath Budget Committee members took to faithfully discharge the duties of the office.

Many on the Budget Committee were keenly aware of the taxpayers' message over the last three years to minimize tax levy increases, and strove to make that happen. This took hard work and an impressive level of analysis by some as they fulfilled their oath of office and their charter duties and obligations. I am proud of what the Budget Committee accomplished, and I suspect the Budget Committee's majority recommendation of a minimal 0.5% tax levy increase will be well received by Tiverton taxpayers.

Nancy L Driggs

Tiverton

Ms. Driggs is a member of the Tiverton Budget Committee.

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