Road safety, school aid top Portsmouth’s legislative priorities

Council approves to-do list for local lawmakers in 2019

By Jim McGaw
Posted 12/11/18

PORTSMOUTH — Improving the school aid funding formula, making state roads safer, protecting citizens’ healthcare and addressing sea level rise were among the legislative priorities …

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Road safety, school aid top Portsmouth’s legislative priorities

Council approves to-do list for local lawmakers in 2019

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Improving the school aid funding formula, making state roads safer, protecting citizens’ healthcare and addressing sea level rise were among the legislative priorities the Town Council will ask local lawmakers to advocate for at the State House in 2019.

On Monday the council approved a list of more than a dozen legislative priorities that members first reviewed during a public workshop on Saturday. The following priorities — no overall order of preference was assigned —  was approved by a 6-0 vote unless otherwise noted (Andrew Kelly was absent from Monday’s meeting).

Improved safety on state roads

Town staff and elected officials have responded to countless accidents by putting items on the State Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) priority list and reaching out to state transportation officials, but according to Council Vice President Linda Ujifusa, safety issues still abound. 

“We urge state legislators to help us advocate more strongly that current TIP priorities, including the East Main Road road diet test program and light at Oakland Farms, be scheduled to occur sooner than currently scheduled,” a council memo states.

Local resident Peter Roberts urged the council to press for a traffic light on East Main Road near the bus stop outside Town Hall, so residents of Anthony House and elsewhere can cross the street safely.

These people are risking their lives to cross the street and nobody cares,” Mr. Roberts said. “You need to tell the state to get it done.”

Council President Kevin Aguiar assured Mr. Roberts that the matter is on the town’s radar. “I don’t think anyone up here denies that it’s a problem and we’ll try our best to get that corrected,” he said.

Improved school aid formula

Saying the town has lived up to its end of the bargain but the state has not, the council unanimously agreed to urge lawmakers to push for the restoration of state aid funding to local schools.

Council member Leonard Katzman, who said a more equitable funding formula is desperately needed, added he intends to work with other municipalities on this issue in hopes of a “groundswell.”

Larry Fitzmorris of the taxpayer watchdog group Portsmouth Concerned Citizens supported the measure, saying state aid to Portsmouth is reduced by about a quarter of a million dollars every year.

“Taxpayers in this town get substantially mugged by the state,” Mr. Fitzmorris said, adding the item should be at the top of the town’s priority list. “This is something that comes right home to the people of this town.”

No cuts to Medicaid

“We need to encourage our legislators not to balance the budget on the backs on the most vulnerable members of society,” said council member J. Mark Ryan, who noted that federal Medicaid currently covers about one out of four children and three out of five nursing home residents in Rhode Island.

Support single-payer health insurance

The council voted 5-1 to urge state lawmakers to support federal and state legislation to create a single-payer, improved “Medicare for all”-type health insurance program. 

Every industrialized nation in the world, except for the United States, offers guaranteed universal health insurance under a single-payer-like system and enjoys better health outcomes for about half the cost, Dr. Ryan said.

Council member Keith Hamilton voted against the measure, saying he doesn’t necessarily believe that a single-payer system will keep costs down. “I don’t trust our state to do it right,” he said.

After the meeting, Dr. Ryan stated, "I trust them more than I trust private health insurance companies." 

Addressing sea level rise

The council also urged legislators to support projects that address the impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities and increase the resiliency of municipal infrastructure through state and federal funding.

“We are a coastal community with a lot of waterfront properties, including town-owned waterfront properties,” council member Daniela Abbott pointed out.

Mr. Roberts said global warming is only a possibility — “not a fact.” He questioned why the town was spending money to develop a waterfront park at the north end of Bristol Ferry Road (Mt. Hope Park). If sea levels were truly rising, he said, that property will be under water in the future.

Fix the broken legislative process

Ms. Ujifusa cited the month-long standoff in 2017 that delayed passage of the state budget as one example of a “broken legislative process” that has harmed residents. Local lawmakers need to advocate for changes to fix problems such as rushed and last-minute legislative review and passage, as well as other procedural snags, she said.

Clarify tax appeal procedure

Ms. Ujifusa said legislation should be introduced to clarify that real estate property taxpayers are not entitled to appeal the valuation of their property each year, but may challenge the value only during the year of the last update or revaluation.

More infrastructure funding

Legislators need to press the state to provide funding to help maintain Stringham and Burma roads, which are vital to the survival of nearby marine trades, said Ms. Ujifusa, who noted the U.S. Navy may be providing less maintenance on the roads going forward.

“We want to make sure the state provides the money rather than put the burden on the town,” she said. “We should be investing in infrastructure that stays here.”

Reverse tax cuts to the wealthy

Recognizing that a large state budget deficit will continue the state’s past practice of forcing municipalities to raise property taxes, Dr. Ryan said legislators need to reverse failed, “trickle-down” policy tax cuts to the wealthy. 

He specifically referred to a 50-percent tax cut in 2006 for people earning over $336,550 annually. Such tax cuts for the wealthy can have catastrophic consequences on a state’s economy, he argued.

The motion passed, 5-1. Mr. Hamilton, who cast the dissenting vote, said he’s opposed to raising taxes on anyone.

Food composting

Ms. Abbott urged state legislators to support initiatives that encourage and fund food composting efforts to expand similar programs happening in Newport and Middletown. The initiatives could include a possible municipal pilot program in Portsmouth for residential, commercial and school food waste, she said.

Economic development

The council also requested the lawmakers work on economic development programs to help integrate Portsmouth into Aquidneck Island tourism programs. These initiatives could include bike paths, waterfront development including Navy property and other recreational infrastructure, Ms. Abbott said.

Recreational deficiencies

Legislators will also be asked to work with the R.I. Department of Environmental Management to better understand the results of Rhode Island’s Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) survey and how recreational deficiencies should be addressed in Portsmouth.

Taxes on marijuana

In the event that recreational marijuana is made legal in Rhode Island, the council urged legislators to push for a portion of the sales tax on cannabis products to return back to municipalities to cover any extra costs they should bear due to legalization.

Portsmouth Town Council

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.