Town
Council to approve new budget at Monday meeting
Plan
must still be approved by voters on June 6
By
Will Collette
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| In Charlestown, the only sure things are death and that the CCA will raise our property taxes every year. Nice open space! |
The
Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) has controlled Charlestown government
since 2008. In 2014, they won every single elected position in Charlestown
giving them total control of the town.
Even
before they swept into office in 2008, the CCA Party claimed it was the savior
of Charlestown taxpayers. They and they alone had the interests of taxpayers
across the town.
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| SOURCE: Charlestown Tax Assessor's webpage. The proposed new rate will be $10.22 |
Here is the Budget transmittal letter and here is the proposed budget.
When
the CCA Party took over Charlestown, the tax rate was $7.16.
So if the CCA budget is approved by voters on June 6, it will mean that the town’s “mill rate” has gone up by 42.7% under the CCA Party’s leadership.
So if the CCA budget is approved by voters on June 6, it will mean that the town’s “mill rate” has gone up by 42.7% under the CCA Party’s leadership.
The
CCA Party’s budgets and tax policies are based on a number of false
assumptions:
- The CCA Party has dedicated itself to taking land off the tax rolls. A recent survey map by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows more than 60% of Charlestown land is off the rolls, and owned or controlled by the federal, state and town governments, the Narragansett Indian Tribe and non-profit groups.
The
CCA claims that putting more land into conservation protection actually raises
property values and cuts taxes.
As
we have learned from the past eight years, it does not.
- The CCA Party has dedicated itself to depopulating the town, making it harder for hard-pressed working families to stay in Charlestown and harder still for new working families to move into Charlestown. That’s a good thing, says the CCA Party, because families with children are parasites – their children are a burden to taxpayers and those children bring no added value to the community. This despicable theory was thoroughly debunked by researchers at Bryant University.
But
more important than the Bryant study is the evidence of the
past eight years that even though our Chariho School District costs have either
dropped or been modest, our tax rate continues to climb. This year, Chariho
will cost Charlestown $152,713 less.
- The CCA Party has dedicated itself to running businesses off and making it hard for new businesses to get started. It seems as if Charlestown's only growth industry is gun shops. The CCA Party makes no tax claims for its anti-business decisions, other than trying to “preserve Charlestown’s rural character.” Except we have recently learned that Charlestown doesn’t even have a definition of “rural character.”
- The CCA Party has dedicated itself to paying cash for capital costs that could otherwise be paid for through bonds. Again, the CCA Party leadership says it saves taxpayers money to use surplus tax revenue to pay for such things as road construction. This year, the budget calls for taking $275,000 from the 2015 surplus to pay cash for construction projects.
For
eight years, we see the CCA-controlled government raise taxes and run up a
large surplus, Instead of using that surplus to, for example, fund a homestead tax exemption to give
full-time residents a tax break, they put that surplus into capital projects
that normal municipalities fund through bonds.
We've never seen the promised tax breaks this practice was supposed to deliver. We probably never will.
We've never seen the promised tax breaks this practice was supposed to deliver. We probably never will.
Despite
all this, the CCA Party has the gall to claim that Charlestown
has one of the state’s lowest tax rates. Except that is deceptive since Charlestown provides almost nothing in municipal services.
Fire
protection is funded by a separate property tax. Ambulance and rescue service
is covered only if you send in a “voluntary donation.” You have to supply your
own drinking water and sewage. You have to pay for trash disposal.
I
am an unabashed tax-and-spend Democrat. I believe paying taxes is our civic
duty, but those taxes should be fair and honest.
In
Charlestown, we have a system where non-residents are protected from higher
taxes and well-off land owners are offered a myriad of ways to cut their tax
costs not commonly available to working families in town. To see examples of
such tax breaks, click here and here and here.
For
the past eight years, our CCA Party rulers have not been honest with
Charlestown taxpayers about the price they must pay to live in our town. This
will be again on display at Monday night’s meeting.
Plus,
there will be a few other things. My snarky comments are, as usual, in Bold Red.
Here’s the official agenda:
Charlestown Town Council
Regular Meeting 4/11/2016 7:00 PM Council Chambers
Town Hall 4540 South County
Trail Charlestown, RI 02813
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