REJECT THIS AWFUL REFERENDUM PROPOSAL

I pray that the good people of Tiverton come out in droves to defeat the awful all day referendum proposed by the TCC, Jeff Caron, Nancy Driggs and others for adopting an annual budgets every year. I say this not simply to defeat the maligned group of those who don’t want to pay any taxes at any costs, but to those who year after year are content with the current process and don’t come out to the annual financial town meeting. Life as you know it now in the town of Tiverton will become even more divisive and there will be no turning back at least for a long while.

This poorly worded ballot proposal for the upcoming November election is bad on a number of accounts. The worst problem touted by those who put forth this piece of garbage, lies within their statement that “ an all-day referendum process which will be more inclusive and allow far more people to participate in setting our budgets and property taxes in an informed manner” is an outright lie. These manipulating charter changer’s decided that any group of fifty can put forth their own budget (legal or illegal) on the ballot that will be voted upon by the taxpayers in lieu of attending the annual Financial Town Meeting. They go on to insult your intelligence even more by stating this process will “only” take ten minutes of your time as if you cared more about the time involved instead of the actual substance of the proposed budgets.

Moreover, none of the so-called taxpayer initiative budgets put forth with fifty names will have to be substantiated at any public hearing. The only budget that will be reviewed is that of the Budget Committee, but anyone else can put whatever they want on the ballot and never have it justified. How pray tell does that make me an “informed voter” and why would I ever let anyone put forth a budget signed by just fifty when our current quorum requires a minimum of three hundred and one voters.

So if I placed myself in Jeff Caron’s shoes, I would generate ten different budgets, each bringing my taxes down below the current level and then write letter after letter to the good people of Tiverton declaring you have alternatives to save you money. He can surely get fifty of his cronies to sign up. After all, who doesn’t want to pay less taxes. That my friends, is exactly what someone will do should this poorly worded all-day referendum pass. It will not matter that there is a budget committee, a school committee or a town council. Your community will be run by a bunch of malcontents, as they prey upon your sensibilities by advocating unjust and unsupported budgets at the expense of educating your children and grandchildren, or they will decimate other municipal departments simply to save themselves a few coins.

If you think I’m lying then ask yourselves this. Did I as a taxpayer vote to build three new schools? If yes, did I come out and support the annual tax increases to support the bonds that were used to build the schools? There were many more who voted on building small schools (2540 taxpayers to be exact) than those whoever attend in total (in 2008, taxpayers attending the FTM 1018 ) at an annual financial town meeting. My point is there are groups hell-bent on striping current service levels in favor of their own agendas at the expense of municipal services that you’ve come to expect.

Simply recall that Jeff Caron spent a couple of years on the Budget Committee not getting what he wanted, then with Chairman Cotta gone for two years Caron and his cohorts from the TCC ran the Budget Committee into the ground going nowhere trying to decimate the community and now Caron’s cohorts are dominating the Town Council, appointed him to this all-day referendum committee on behalf of the TCC (you’ll remember Neslon stating the great prize (payback) will be the all day referendum in lieu of getting his last charter changes adopted) What better way than to create a venue to deceive and corrupt the actual voting mechanism as a method to achieve their success after failing in every other attempt.

Please don’t be deceived by this tomfoolery. Our annual budget process may not be the ideal and our Financial Town Meeting may not suit your personal taste, but at least we know what we have and how it works. Putting forth ten pages of small print charter changes to achieve an all day referendum that has absolutely no control mechanisms is an absolute farce.

When you look at the budgets passed before and after the new schools, the Town of Tiverton did very well on behalf of the ratepayers. No bloated contracts, no overpriced vehicles, not every project or whim was entertained. Tiverton has always run a very conservative budget but as in any system as large as forty million, there are ways to achieve efficiencies and savings. Before you are inclined to throw the baby out with the bathwater by adopting this ill-conceived all-day referendum idea, shouldn’t we first demand to see from the newly elected TCC group put on the Town Council, what have they done for us to date? Other than postpone every agenda item two and three times, making no decisions, failing to provide key employment contracts for the security of both the town and key employees, and continued lamenting about Financial Town Meetings from the past to litigation generated by their own actions of stripping away funds provided to the School Department granted by your vote, this group has been the biggest underachievers ever! Why would anyone grant them the ability to change how our community adopts a budget and set an annual tax-rate.

Please come out and vote NO, against the all-day referendum question at the special election being held on November 8th, 2011.

Alexander Cote
Tiverton Budget Committee Member