Closing Arguments: The Case for the FTR

To the editor:

Voting yes for the Financial Town Referendum (FTR) on Nov. 8 means all 12,000 Tiverton voters will finally have a say in the town budget and the tax rate. It means voting in private at a convenient time during the day, or by mail-in ballot, after having had over two weeks to consider and debate the choices, or with 50 likeminded voters put your own proposal forward if you don’t want to vote yes for any of the others.  It also means we finally follow state tax cap law. Who wouldn’t support this?

To be sure, there are a few who just plain like the financial town meeting (FTM) and they have the right, of course, to oppose any replacement. But look back over the letters and posts of the half-dozen FTR naysayers who have bombarded this site with the nastiest of personal attacks and outright misrepresentations, and we see a few others now pretending to be concerned over this FTR proposal which is nearly identical to what they once asked for. They asked for low signature petition hurdles so that voters could still have the access rights they have now at the FTM; but now “too many” voter requests can reach the ballot (it only takes 50 signature for an FTM resolution now, and just 1 person can make a no-warning motion at an FTM).

They now make the odd argument that you can’t vote “no” to all budgets even while they complain it’s “too easy” to put alternatives on that people want to vote “yes” for.  (By the way, what happened in 2008 after the voters said “no” by a 2:1 margin to an 11 percent tax increase?) They asked to make sure no government gatekeeper could block the requests of the voters or the School Committee; now suddenly “illegal” budgets are of great concern even as citizen and School Committee lawsuits are pending and threatened because of FTM outcomes. (Who would get to decide which budgets are “illegal”? The school department attorney or the town solicitor? The town treasurer or the town clerk? No answer has yet been suggested.) So what’s the story behind the story – what’s behind such obvious hypocrisy?

Taxes. It’s now clear that while in the past they supported, even helped develop, this FTR or one much like it, they figured they would try to change the state property tax cap law along the way, or just keep ignoring it. So now they’ve reversed course entirely and prefer to keep and control the FTM machine since they can’t imagine Tiverton government living under the 4 percent annual state tax cap, even though 4 percent is higher than inflation. For them, 4 percent a year is apparently not high enough, and comprise is not an option.

In a way, it’s ironic that it is the FTR opponents who seek to frame the entire FTR debate in terms of taxes. To be sure, some want 0 percent tax increases, and some want 10 percent-plus. Count me in the middle ground camp that thinks inflationary tax increases around 1 to 3 percent are necessary to keep the lights on and chip away at town needs which have been ignored or underfunded for decades. Not only does following the 4 percent state law show the stability which will comfort and attract investment into Tiverton, but following the 4 percent law shows a little respect for the silent suffering among us who have lost jobs and homes, who know that a real pay cut doesn’t just mean a smaller raise than we had last year, and who struggle to face another winter amid the worst economy in our lifetimes.

Still, despite overwhelming authority to the contrary, our anti-FTR friends have circled their wagons around the myth that Tiverton is somehow “exempt” from the full protection of the 4 percent state property tax cap. Distorting the state law into a lie that two town councilors can “veto” the budget, this is their nuclear option in the last defense of the FTM. Yet just last month, the official receiver (a retired Supreme Court justice) of bankrupt Central Falls is the latest of many authorities to write that a Town Council supermajority vote is required to break the property tax cap in FTM towns too. A sad day for Tiverton it will be if the voters are fooled today on the basis of scare tactics and flat-out wrong statements of law, only to have a court remind us tomorrow to follow the law while we’re still stuck with the FTM. If you can’t decide whether to believe a Supreme Court justice, the state Department of Revenue, the Rhode Island Public Expenditures Council, most of our town attorneys, Standard and Poor’s, and many more on the one hand, versus the bloggers on the other, just ask yourself at a gut level: Do you think Tiverton really is, or should be, “exempt” from the same state tax cap that applies to all 38 other cities and towns?

So here we are. After playing key roles in notorious past FTMs, now we see them magnify and distort the tiniest of details in an effort to smokescreen the undeniable benefits of the FTR. Efforts to compromise and good faith suggestions that any process can be improved over time (such as increasing the signature threshold if needed) are pounced upon as supposed admissions of “fatal flaws.”

These folks sat out the entire process and come forward now to smear their own neighbors as “cronies”, “snake-oil salesmen,” “slimy,” “sleazy,” and more. See also the posts below. If you have never been to a financial town meeting, this is what you’ve been missing.

Despite blocking the 2008 referendum proposal and standing by silently when asked to be a part of the solution, they now seek your trust that we should keep waiting years more for something these insiders will support…maybe…some day.  But Tiverton voters asked to see a new process back in 2006. All we’ve seen from those who trampled taxpayers and blocked reform are scare tactics, personal smears, political games, outright lying when really desperate, and above all else, absolutely zero inclination to come together and compromise. Hasn’t Tiverton waited long enough?

The time is now. No more confusion and surprises. No more broken rules and intimidation. No more 4-hour meetings where more votes are counted than people in the room. With over a year of work and some 18 public meetings, the FTR committee of 6 Tiverton volunteers was painstakingly thorough to debate and develop a solid, balanced compromise that has been transparent and vetted. Unanimously recommended by the FTR committee, the proposal received further hearing and vetting by the Town Council which forwarded it to the voters. And yes, the town attorney has reviewed and signed off on it. Everything is available at www.tivertonftr.org. 

With the FTR, the true majority of all 12,000 Tiverton voters now finally have the chance to vote on the town budget and property tax rate this year, and every year. Advance warning with all-day private voting and absentee ballots will let all voices be heard, including parents unable to arrange for childcare and those who can’t miss work, home with illness, serving in the military, or just out of town for whatever reason. This is a moment where we can rise above the fray to truly come together and do something good. Level the playing field. Let’s let every Tiverton voter have the chance to exercise their right to vote. Yes on Question 2 will be a critical turning point on the path to a better Tiverton future.

Robert Coulter
Tiverton

Mr. Coulter, an attorney, is a member of the Tiverton Town Council and a prior Vice Chairman of the Tiverton Budget Committee.