FLAWED "FTR" POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR FTM

Tiverton’s Financial Town Meeting is imperfect and pretty messy. That’s democracy. The question is; will the proposed replacement, the FTR, be a better way for voters to directly decide the town’s budget and taxes? Does the FTR provide an improved process that is fair to all voters and protects their rights? I don’t think so. Take for instance one piece of the puzzle – the Financial Town Hearing.

Under the FTR system, the Financial Town Hearing is designed to be an informational meeting for the public to debate all the budget proposals as they will appear on the ballot for the “referendum” two weeks later. Sounds like Financial Town Meeting without the votes, right? Wrong.

First, this meeting will be on a Tuesday night and anyone can attend. It will be similar to the Financial Town Meeting except that the FTR does not limit the number of budget proposals. Instead of spending a Saturday morning understanding budgets, we’ll be spending more time on a Tuesday night trying to understand the 5, 10, 50 or more budgets on the ballot. And, any group (union, PAC, political party) will be free to pack the room, unlike Town Meeting which is restricted to registered voters.

Second, those proposing budgets via petition are not required to attend this meeting. Any resident can collect 50 signatures and not show up to defend, or take public responsibility for, their budget. A petition budget can propose a non-specific million dollar cut (legal or not) and no one is responsible for explaining what services will be cut if it wins. Organized groups can easily coordinate an effort to manipulate the ballot and avoid public scrutiny.

Third, you will not be able to propose changes to budgets at this meeting like you can at Town Meeting. The opportunity to propose changes via petition budgets happens three weeks earlier. Remember, you will not be able to vote no at the FTR’s “referendum.” Like an election, you’ll be instructed to vote for one of the choices. Petition budgets are supposedly the way to vote no.

If you want to decide whether or not you like one of the budget choices in time to propose changes (i.e., vote no) you’ll have to get involved with the budget process well before this meeting. And, it will be your job to get the information you need because the FTR does not require any public hearings before the time to submit petitions. Nor does it require any advertised public notice of the time deadlines for submitting petitions.

I would like to have a fair, workable alternative to the Financial Town Meeting but, for me, this FTR isn’t it. On Nov. 8, please join me in voting no to the FTR.

Laura Epke
Tiverton Budget Committee member