Tax
rate to rise for 8th consecutive year
By
Will Collette
 |
| Screen shot from the Charlestown Tax Assessor webpage |
If
you only looked at the official
published agenda, you would think that Monday night’s Budget Public Hearing
wasn’t about the budget, but rather about what a new Charlestown civic group,
the Friends of the
General Stanton Inn, hope to get the town to do about one of its most
treasured historical icons.
The
citizens’ petition to put a $1.75 million ballot question to save the inn before
the voters on June 6 at the town Financial Referendum has already been approved.
It cannot be stopped by the Town Council, consisting entirely of Charlestown
Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) picks.
The main thing we will learn at the Budget
Hearing is the extent of the CCA Party opposition to this popular and
commendable enterprise.
I
have a theory that the CCA Party would like to see all eyes focused on the
General Stanton Inn initiative and most of the time at the hearing devoted to
discussing it.
That
way, voters might be distracted from noticing that the proposed CCA Council
budget contains the eighth consecutive tax rate hike, bringing the new property
tax rate to $10.22, give or take a penny.
Since
the CCA Party took control of Charlestown Town Government in 2008, they have
raised Charlestown’s property tax rate by more than 42% - from $7.16 to a
proposed $10.22. All the while, they shout from the rooftops that Charlestown
has one of the lowest tax rates in the state – which is only true if you ignore how we have virtually none of the municipal services - water, sewage, fire protection, rescue service, trash disposal, etc. - that are built into the tax rates of most other municipalities. We still pay for all those services, but separately, so it doesn't show up in our general property tax rate.
Plus,
the CCA Party continues to claim that its core financial principles are saving
taxpayers money.
Since
2008, they have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to greatly expand the amount
of land taken off the tax rolls as open space. This, according to CCA Party
co-founder and current Zoning Board member Cliff Vanover, was definitely going
to increase property values and thus reduce taxes. It hasn’t.
Since
2008, they have managed to thwart new family housing on Planning
Commissar Ruth Platner’s theory that new housing for working families automatically
means more kids in Chariho schools and higher costs to tax payers. As a result,
Charlestown’s population has shrunk and aged, our enrollment in Chariho has dropped
and Charlestown’s share of the costs of Chariho has declined. Despite all that,
our taxes have gone up for eight years straight.
Since
they’ve also asserted dominance over the Budget Commission, CCA budgets include
the peculiar feature of taking town surpluses to pay for capital projects such as road works instead of using those
surpluses for tax relief.
Each year, we are promised this will “save taxes.” But for eight years in a
row, our tax rate has gone up.
Based
on comments printed in the CCA’s official website, it looks like CCA Party followers
are going to challenge the General Stanton Inn initiative on financial grounds,
despite assurances from none other than Charlestown
Budget Commission chair Richard Sartor that the costs to taxpayers will be
minimal compared to the tremendous benefit to the town.
In
advance, I would say to each of those potential CCA Party objectors, “When will
you start challenging the failed budget practices of your own Town Council? Why
aren’t you raising a stink about 42.7% in tax rate hikes since the CCA took
over?”
CCA
supporters in many ways resemble the hardcore supporters of Donald Trump. They
hold every CCA Party pronouncement as gospel. They call any information that
casts doubt on the CCA Party “lies.” They believe anyone who opposes the CCA is motivated by hate.
We’ll
see how much of that plays out at Monday’s hearing.
Here
is the official agenda which includes links to the budget and the complete text
of the Petition to save the General Stanton Inn: