To the editor:
Personally, I’m voting for Budget #1 since I see what is going on in Tiverton and I’m a native so I’ve been a witness to the dealings in this town.
I hear my friends who live in other towns and cities tell me that they wish their taxes were as low as mine and have the services we have. I see the facts that Tiverton taxes are average for the State of RI and many of our neighboring towns/cities pay much more and have industry and big box stores costly trash pickup, and more traffic.
I want to live in a small town that has curbside pickup, free rescue and fire, schools that are close by and no big box stores.
The thing that bothers me is that we have a budget committee that worked tirelessly for months to work out a budget that would maintain our services and we have a group that undermines all that hard work.
I also see the serious problems of trying to fill vacant jobs in town. You cannot and will not get qualified people to work for a fraction of what a neighboring town will offer them and you cannot have the idea that they will. You can say that taxes have increased millions since 2004 and I can say that taxes have increased since 1960 and you are right because a bottle of Coke was five cents and we don’t live in that world anymore.
Any good business keeps an eye on the competition and our competition is the towns in our state. Are we competing, are we keeping up with them? No, not really. Our taxes are average, our trash pickup is low cost, our schools are being maintained - finally, our library is new, but we lack good roads, water/sewerage, and competing salaries.
If we cut taxes more than the budget committee recommended we will not be competing with other towns. We need trained employees who are offered a competitive salary to come and stay in town and infrastructure improvements such as roads and water. It only makes sense, so that is why I will vote for budget #1.
L. Cottrell
Tiverton