Rep. Tomasso: General Assembly Must Keep Eye on Cities, Towns

Rep. Lisa P. Tomasso (D-Dist. 29, Coventry, West Greenwich) said she is committed to championing support for bills that will continue providing relief for both the taxpayers and individual municipalities.

“Between the pension overhaul and the passing of the budget, I have stood in support of anything that would assist the cities and towns in this time of economic stress,” Representative Tomasso said. “It is imperative that we keep our eye on individual cities and towns and keep in mind that our decisions must not only help the state as a whole, but provide assistance to communities that are currently fighting to stay afloat.”

Her support for pension reform, she says, saved the taxpayers of each community millions of dollars when looking at how much more they would have paid for teacher and municipal employee pensions. The overhaul will potentially save more than $4.5 million in the teacher retirement system for the school districts in both of her communities. Also soon to be addressed are the locally-administered pension plans, which legislators plan to examine through a new municipal pension study panel. The study commission will be charged with reviewing existing legislation and pension plan administrative practices.

“Sweeping changes to the state pension system were absolutely necessary, but now we need to take a closer look at those pension systems within our own communities,” said Representative Tomasso. “I fully support the new commission and their work, which hopefully set our municipalities on the right path toward financial stability.”

Representative Tomasso pointed out the support for cities and towns reached far beyond pension reform last year, including a key provision in the budget that provided municipalities with the power to require Medicare enrollment by eligible municipal retirees. She also supported other measures in the budget that exempts the School Committee from needing to advertise meetings in the local newspapers, as well as full funding of the first year phase-in of the state education funding formula.

Representative Tomasso threw her support behind an enacted bill (2011-H 5946) that permitted municipalities to require immediate payment of only late installments last year. The bill requires that a municipality may only impose an interest charge based on that late installment and not the entire payment.

“This law is a direct savings to the taxpayers of both my communities and others all over the state,” Representative Tomasso said. “My colleagues and I came to the realization that the legislation in place at the time was unfairly taking money out of the pockets of our taxpayers. I supported it then, and I will continue to support future bills that will ease the burden on my constituents.”

The representative said she is looking forward to a new year where she can join her colleagues in putting a strong focus on good government and fiscal responsibility.

“As a former member of the Coventry School Committee, I know how much cities and towns are tussling with their obligations right now,” she said. “It’s important that as we move forward, this theme of supporting our local communities continues to be a prevalent topic in the current legislative session.”