Tiverton has a history of open, democratic, and participatory government. The people of Tiverton have repeatedly rejected attempts to give the seven member Town Council any power in setting our budget and tax rate. As recently as November 2008, with over 7,100 people casting ballots, 59% of the people voted to retain an elected Budget Committee and a Financial Town Meeting to make budget decisions on their behalf.
Regardless of how I, or anyone else, feel about the current process, we must respect the majority’s right to decide. New town councilor David Nelson is proposing an ordinance that would change the budget process laid out in our Charter. An ordinance that could override the majority with only four votes of the Council – four.
Before taking power away from the people and the elected Budget Committee (remember they were elected this past November too!), let the people decide if that is what they want. If the people have changed their minds and want the Council to now have more power over the budget process, then let them make that choice clear at the ballot box.
The bottom line, despite all the justifications and rationalizations and charts and graphs, is that THE PEOPLE change the Charter, not the Council. The public hearing on this ordinance is February 28th at 7:00 pm at Town Hall.
Deb Pallasch
Tiverton, RI
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment