To the editor:

Last Thursday evening I attended the Tiverton Financial Town Hearing. I listened to fellow citizens come to the microphone one after another to suggest that anything less than this year's Budget Committee-proposed 3.5% tax increase could necessitate the elimination of long-term services as basic as even trash pickup, etc.

And when even the Democratic Town Committee Chairman Mike Burke came up to speak and said the same, my frustration was so intense that I followed him to the microphone, saying, "What's wrong here?"

Tiverton currently has a tax rate of $19.14 per thousand property evaluation, and will remain in the $19 range even if this year's lowest Budget #2 should pass. Yet, the people voicing support for the Budget Committee's 3.5% budget proposal could only talk about how much this group, this department, this municipal entity needed and would suffer should the voters choose a budget proposing a lesser tax increase.

Seemingly worrying only about a possible reduction in government coffers, not one of them recognized the financial challenge such a real estate tax increase represents to a population that is already taxed at the highest rate compared to all contiguous towns (Portsmouth, 15.80%; MIddletown, 15.04%; Little Compton, 5.75%; and, Fall River, 13.63%).

Further, nobody in support of the Budget Committee's 3.5% budget increase appeared to acknowledge or have concern that, as Justin Katz states, the tax assessor's estimate for the value of all property in our town is an increase of merely 0.46%, and revenues from such things as licenses, permits and inspections were down $100,000, as Justin Katz further made a point of emphasizing in his presentation of his Budget #2 which keeps the tax increase down to 0.9%.

Ultimately, only Budget #2 calling for this 0.9% tax increase gets it right. To thrive long-term, Tiverton, a town I love, needs to rein in its tax rate with the objective of allowing property values to grow, thereby getting back to parity with its neighboring towns.

John Perkins

Tiverton