As a first-term member of the Little Compton Budget Committee, I witnessed first-hand how each and every budget submission and citizen stroke is researched, scrutinized and debated as to its impact on the community and its potential tax burden on the citizens of Little Compton.

This is done with the highest of integrity from its members. This process is completely free from bias and personal opinions, and recommendations are strictly based on facts from data gathered from numerous independent and town sources.

When reviewing the budget for the school, these standards are particularly important as two of the five members of the budget committee, including myself, are parents of current students at Wilbur McMahon School.

Throughout the budget process, many department heads appeared before the committee to advocate for their budget requests, as well as private citizens, who appeared to voice their support or object to a particular budget item. It’s not surprising that some of our recommendations came with immediate negative responses.

At their meeting on May 10, several members of the Little Compton School Committee voiced their outrage at the budget committee’s recommendation to “level-fund” the school for FY2024. Then, a letter was published online by a declared candidate for Little Compton Budget Committee, Dr. Andrew Rhyne.

Dr. Rhyne questioned the budget committee’s intent and process, accusing us of favoring one department over the other, then linking the committee to an organization in Little Compton to which we have absolutely no association.

The budget committee has held 12 public meetings since Nov. 15, 2022. One of which was the public hearing held on May 1, at which the budget committee voted on all budget items except for the school. We then decided to postpone the vote on the school budget until the following day, to allow for any “stakeholders” who could not attend the public hearing to voice their concerns and opinions. All of these meetings were publicly posted along with an invitation to any Little Compton resident to attend and voice their support or objection to any budget item.

Many attended and we are thankful for that. But what the taxpayers of Little Compton should be aware of is that not a single member of the school committee or the declared candidate for the budget committee, Dr. Rhyne, found it necessary to attend even one budget committee meeting.

But yet the members of the school committee are quick to condemn the committee’s recommedations and Dr. Rhyne is seeking election to a committee in which he has shown little interest to date.

At their May 10 meeting, the chairman of the school committee even admitted that he was unaware that the budget committee had even held a public hearing. I hope that all Little Compton taxpayers will join us on May 24 for the Financial Town Meeting (FTM) and support the recommendations of the Little Compton Budget Committee.

Corey Soderlund

Little Compton