To the editor:

Reference Mr. Caron’s letter in your July 28, 2016 edition concerning

Tiverton’s budget.

As to his comment that the Town Council had not increased the treasurer’s salary:

The Tiverton Town Council has nothing to do with the Tiverton

treasurer’s budget because the treasurer is elected independently.

Since the treasurer’s office monitors the financial activity of the

Town Council it would be, at a minimum, a conflict of interest for the

council to control the treasurer’s salary.

As to his comment comparing collective bargaining agreements and

individual salary contracts with the contract between Tiverton and

Patriot Waste Management:

The Patriot contract has a clause about insufficient funding (not the

correct legal wording) that allows for renegotiation.  Collective

bargaining and individual salary contracts in Tiverton do not have

such language because no union or salaried person would accept it.

Patriot is competing with other firms for their contract with

Tiverton.  The municipal unions have monopolies — an individual

household cannot go out and hire their own fire department, but it can

hire trash collection.  The different context for negotiation makes a

world of difference in what is possible.  To state the obvious, unions

do not easily agree to pay and benefits reductions.

As to trash collection:

From a pure arithmetic perspective. one solution would be to have trash

pickup every other week and not provide yard waste or large item

collection.  To implement this approach would take roughly another

$170,000 to 175,000 in addition to what was left in the trash collection

account for FY 2016-17.  The dilemmas come when sources of the

reallocated money are sought to accommodate the Katz budget.  Does the

Town Council cut the annual contribution to the police pension fund,

reduce the paving account, raid the salt and sand account in hopes of

another mild winter or some combination of these accounts?  In every

case there are long term consequences to account reductions.  Choices

made should be the least burdensome or harmful to all the people of

Tiverton not just to the few who are only interested in their own self

interest.

When it comes to budgeting for the 24/7 operation of Tiverton there

are some truths that cannot be escaped no matter how much smoke and

mirrors are used:

Tiverton’s budget cannot be accurately compared to nearby

Massachusetts communities because the two state school funding methods

are very different.

If Tiverton wants to attract and retain competent employees

competitive wages, salaries and benefits have to be provided.

Town buildings and equipment have to be kept up to date and properly

maintained for safe and effective operations for the health and safety

of Tiverton residents.

Tiverton property taxes can be lowered by increasing town revenues

such as by accepting a casino and hotel operation, increasing

development impact fees or by accepting more power generation plants

within the industrial park.  Alternatively town services can be

reduced, for example by eliminating trash collection permanently,

elimination of recreation fields, closing the senior center, in the

future eliminating the town planner position, reducing the size of the

police and fire departments or contracting out the high school like

Little Compton does or proceeding to regionalization of appropriate

operations such as public works and schools.

The elections in November will be an opportunity for residents to

express their wishes about what kind of community services they want.

There are some candidates who deal in reality and some who practice

wishful thinking.  Voters should choose carefully so they gain elected

officials that are committed to maintaining the community character of

Tiverton that they want.

Cecil Leonard

Tiverton