The outcome of Tiverton’s May 20 Financial Town Referendum (FTR) will determine the town’s financial health for years to come. The choice facing voters is actually a simple one: Option 1, a fully-vetted, fiscally-responsible budget presented unanimously by the elected Budget Committee, or Option 2, a self-serving political stunt masquerading as “tax relief”.
Option 1 offers a remarkable balance: maintaining town and schools services, strengthening the town’s General Fund, and requiring a historically low tax-increase of 1.29% to fund it. It has the support of all three elected town bodies, as well as the elected Treasurer.
Option 2 is the latest attempt by a small group with a political agenda to cripple the town financially. Their motto seems to be, “If it ain’t broke, break it.” Having failed in previous years to decimate funding to our school and community services, their strategy now is to strip the General Fund and claim the result is a “zero tax increase” that won’t cut services. Anyone who knows how finances actually work realizes this view is either woefully uninformed or intentionally deceptive. The fact that they refer to the town's General Fund, the guide of a town's financial health as well as its "rainy day fund", as a "slush fund" tells you all you need to know about their extreme views. As is usually the case, when something sounds too good to be true, it is.
Slashing the town’s General Fund will actually cost every taxpayer far more than the small savings in this year’s tax-bill. Despite claims to the contrary, those with actual financial expertise have made clear that doing so will result in lowering the town’s bond-rating, costing us more in financing bonds (such as the bonds for the new library). It will also eliminate the funds necessary to stabilize town finances and keep taxes low in a year when there are unexpected expenses or expected revenues are short. The town will be thrown back into lurching from crisis to crisis, exactly the situation the town has worked for years to overcome. Throwing away hard-earned financial stability on the hope it won't be needed is the very definition of fiscal irresponsibility.
Tiverton 1st strongly endorses Option 1, the Budget Committee's proposal, and encourages all voters to take ten minutes on May 20 to protect our community's financial well-being. For more info, visit Tiverton 1st on Facebook, or at www.Tiverton1st.blogspot.com. Don't leave this crucial choice to others. Make your voice heard in favor of economic sanity, and protect Tiverton from Option 2, a self-inflicted wound taxpayers will be paying for for years to come.
Brian Medeiros
Co-Coordinator, Tiverton 1st
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