To the editor:

With the possibility of having one of the state’s two casinos in Tiverton, we are presented an opportunity.

The tax deal the Casino owners will offer will have to be approved by the town council. The electorate will decide how it is spent. I would like to float this idea for the use of the revenue. Tiverton has about $20 million worth of needed infrastructure repairs and replacements. School buildings and the grounds around them are about $9 million of the needs, while the roads, bridges,recreation areas, and town buildings are the rest.

My proposal would link this money into the capital plan for infrastructure repairs. This would ensure that the money is doing good for the town. We could bring our roads and buildings up to a better standard in about a decade. In my plan, half of the agreed money would go to the schools, and half to the town side.

The town has 90 miles of roads and many are in bad condition. Our recreation areas never get the attention they need. Our high school and middle school are getting old. I see this new source of revenue as a way to get the needed work done with out bonds that cost as much in interest,

I may be putting the cart before the horse since the vote is not until 2016. I hope people who agree will contact me so we can build on this idea.

This is not an opportunity we can afford to pass up with these huge bills looming on the horizon.

Joe Sousa

Member, Tiverton Town Council