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Little Compton Taxpayers
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New Boat for Fire Dept
Principal Gibney Resigns Tonight the School Committee accepted the resignation of Principal James Gigney effective June 30, 2012. No specific reason was given for the resignation other than the School needs new leadership for moving the school forward. Mr. Gibney's contract was scheduled to end June 30, 2013. Part of the settlement agreement is that Mr. Gibney's health insurance will continue to be paid for out to June 30, 2013, and he will be given a portion of the salary he would have made in 2013 had he stayed.
Tax Rate to Increase 0.94% The Budget Committee announced that the tax rate for 2012-2013 will increase by less than 1%. That is an additional 5¢ per thousand. The rate goes from $5.33 per thousand to $5.38 per thousand. Note: The cost of the School bond will not be seen until July 2013. If your home is valuated at $400,000, you will see a tax increase of $20 for the year.
The Wilbur and McMahon School
Renovation
Students To Attend Class On Veterans Field The School Committee and School Building Committee have chosen Veterans Field to house Grades 5, 6, 7, 8 during the 2012-2013 school year while renovations are made to the Wilbur & McMahon School. Temporary classroom modules will be erected on Veterans Field immediately following this year's Chicken Barbeque. The picture below shows the temporary classrooms (in yellow) placed on Veterans Field. Grades K through 4 will be housed in St. Andrews Church and the Congregational Church during the same period. Details not yet finalized.
We Won A Big One
As
oppressive government continues to whittle away our freedoms and muzzle
those who speak out, the Little Compton Taxpayers Association (LCTA) won a
lawsuit that will have repercussions throughout the State.
On October 27, 2010 - just before the last election - the LCTA published a
newsletter (click
here to see the newsletter) that included a sample ballot in
which the LCTA's voting recommendations were put forth.
Republicans, Democrats, and Cool Moose candidates were recommended.
Included in the list was John Loughlin running for Patrick Kennedy's
seat, and Joe Quinn running for School Committee.
We also recommended against former School Committee Chair, Mike
Harrington.
16 candidates were recommended.
12 of them won with 8 of them running unopposed.
Evidently, Brett and Johanna McKenzie (Little Compton residents) were
dissatisfied with this newsletter and, through frivolous complaints with the
Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and the RI Board of Elections (RI-BOE),
tried to silence the LCTA by removing its First Amendment right to free
speech.
With respect to the FEC, the complaint was against both the LCTA and John
Loughlin for neither one of them reporting the "expense" of the endorsement.
The FEC quickly recognized this as an invalid complaint and dismissed
it in a letter (click here to see the FEC letter) to the McKenzie's.
They also dismissed the complaint against John Loughlin.
Note: The FEC has a $250 threshold.
The amount of money spent on the Loughlin endorsement in the
newsletter was less than $5.
But Rhode Island being Rhode Island, political hacks making up the RI-BOE
saw an opportunity to seize control of taxpayer groups such as the LCTA and
block their ability to do what they do (endorsements, newsletters, newspaper
articles, web sites, and letters).
The RI-BOE charged the LCTA with "coordinating" its endorsement of Joe Quinn
running for School Committee since Quinn was also a member of the LCTA's
Board of Directors. If Mr. Quinn
had participated in the endorsement, it would have been "coordinated".
But, as a matter of ethics, Mr. Quinn recused himself and played no
role in the newsletter. The RI-BOE agreed
that this was the case even though they ignored it.
The RI-BOE had the LCTA "guilty as charged" even before the hearing began.
The hearing proceedings were along the line of kangaroo court where
facts didn't matter and proof wasn't required.
The LCTA was found guilty and warned not to do it again.
Baloney! The LCTA refused to roll over and take this.
A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed with the US District Court,
Judge John McConnell, Jr.
Attorneys Robert Senville and Carolyn Mannis represented the LCTA, and the
RI Attorney General represented the RI-BOE.
The LCTA asked for a copy of the tape recording of the hearing, but
the tape was suddenly found to be inaudible... just as it was in a separate
action involving Ken Block who ran as a Moderate in the race for Governor.
The RI-BOE gave the same reason - the tape machine operator caused
the problem. Once again, this is
Rhode Island!
Early on, the Attorney General indicated that he had nothing to defend the
RI-BOE's actions with. To try to
avert having this discovered in court, the RI-BOE withdrew its findings
against the LCTA and attempted to declare the case moot before Judge
McConnell. As with many cases,
the judge urges the opposing parties to try to settle out of court.
That is what Judge McConnell did in this case.
There was a settlement which vindicated the LCTA, invalidated the McKenzie's
misguided adventure, and repaid both the LCTA and its Attorneys for all the
money that was spent - $45,000.
If the Attorney General's costs and the Court's costs are included, the bill
to the taxpayers is on the order of $100,000 - all because the McKenzie's
did not like the outcome of the election and tried to silence the LCTA.
They should be made to pay these costs for wasting the time of so many people
and wasting so many taxpayer dollars.
Click here
to see the Consent Order that ended the case.
Click here
to see a GoLocalProv.com article on this subject by Donna Perry on March 1,
2012.
The LCTA has asked Little Compton's Senator DiPalma to look into this matter
and initiate action against the RI-BOE such that this does not happen again.
It is a good lesson in freedom of speech being defended, and a
warning to those who cannot win the public debate and, instead, try to
muzzle those with opposing points of view by manipulating and abusing the
public process.
Chalk up one for the LCTA!
No more Treasurer & Tax Collector Elections? The Budget Committee Chairman, Scott Morrison, appeared before the Town Council tonight alerting the Council that for 2 years in a row, the Town's fiscal audit revealed serious deficiencies in the financial management of the Town. The report cited serious deficiencies in the handling of and accounting for Town funds. Mr. Morrison quoted the auditors as follows: "The Town's system of financial reporting and internal controls over financial reporting is not adequately designed and that the Town does not possess the requisite internal human resource capabilities." Mr. Morrison further stated that the ultimate responsibility for management of the Town's finances rests with the Town Council and, therefore, the Council must make changes that are deemed to be necessary to insure the Town's finances are properly managed. The Budget Committee's suggested course of action is to change the Town's Home Rule Charter to make the Treasurer and Tax Collector positions appointed by the Council rather than elected in the general elections The Council agreed to look into this. More to follow.
The Wilbur and McMahon School
Renovation
Finally, the School Committee has produced a
renovation plan that resolves the problems associated with health, safety,
and building code deficiencies that have plagued the facility for many
years.
The plan appears to be much more affordable than any
plan previously proposed by the School Committee's building committee.
As presented in previous articles on this web site,
the following is a history of the cost proposals that the School Building
Committee (SBC) has proposed: • JCJ's "Option 5"
(Sep 23, 2008) was $22.5M ($35.6M with int)
The cost proposal on the table now is $17,646,178
including interest on a 20-year loan.
The RI Department of Education (RIDE) will pick
up 40% of that cost leaving the Town's share at $10,587,707 over the course
of 20-years.
Click here for a complete cost breakout.
The effect of this expenditure will be a tax rate
increase of approximately 4.7% or 29¢ per $1,000 of assessed value.
This is worst case. The final tax rate
may be less. The table below gives a glimpse of the
homeowner's annual out-of-pocket cost for this project based upon the
assessed value of the home.
Click here for a
list of health, safety, and code deficiencies in various work areas.
Click here
for a lists of costs for the various repairs.
On January 19, 2012, the Town Council voted to put
this expenditure to an all-day
referendum
rather than a Special Financial Town Meeting.
An all-day referendum is conducted in similar
fashion as an election where the gym is open all day for voting.
This gives every registered voter in Little
Compton - even those who are absent - the opportunity to vote yes or no on
this project.
There will be three public hearings prior to
the referendum.
This is the most expensive project ever undertaken by
the Town of Little Compton.
There is little question that work needs to be
done at the school.
If the voters say no, the repairs are still
needed and will have to be done on a pay-as-you-go basis. The choice is
yours. |
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