Headlines & Opinions (Click "Archives" or "Articles" for older material)

The Wilbur and McMahon School Renovation
January 31, 2012
(Revised 2/2/2012)

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)
• DB's estimate (Oct 10, 2010): $28.3M ($44.8M with int)
• DB's estimate (Oct 28, 2010): $23.3M ($37M with int)
• DB's estimate (Nov 8, 2010): $21.6M ($34M with int)
• DB's estimate (Feb 25, 2011): $19.2M ($32M with int)
• DB's estimate (Mar 9, 2011): $18.9M ($31M with int)

 ("JCJ" is JCJ Architects, "DB" is Durkee Brown Architects)

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.

 Custer Housing Dead - For Now!
October 27, 2011

The Town Council and the Planning Board held a joint hearing tonight on CLUSTER HOUSING (they call it "conservation zoning" to disguise what it really is).  There were approximately 75 people in attendance.

The vote ended up 4-against, and 1-for.  Bob Mushen was the single vote in favor.  The 4 "NO" votes were based on voters being against it rather than the flaws and negatives of the proposal itself.  That coupled with Bob Mushen's "YES" vote leads one to believe that this will be back again. 

The flaws that were identified by those of the public in attendance were:

1. There is a tax impact on clustering - the taxpayers have to subsidize part of the development.

2. The conservation portion of the parcel will be the responsibility of groups such as Ag Trust, Conservation this or that, etc.

     a. These organizations have not confirmed this and certainly have not agreed to it
     b. What if they go bankrupt?
     c. Who polices the unauthorized use of the land (e.g., parking a bunch of boats or rusty vehicles on the conservation land)?

3. There is no burden of proof that a parcel can fit X-number of homes with septic systems under conventional zoning in order to determine how many homes are allowed in a cluster in the same parcel (a necessary step).  There's no requirement to prove that a septic system could be placed conventionally.  This is normally done with a perc test and a water table test.  All the developer has to do is say it - not prove it.

4. Clustering septic systems has a higher probability of polluting an area, the ground water, or nearby wetlands than conventional zoning.  This includes pollution from potentially dangerous medications from human waste.

We are happy with the outcome of this vote, but we are disturbed by the reasoning behind the vote. 

<<< Wilbur School Project - Rejected! >>>
July 21, 2011

Today, the Rhode Island Board of Regents rejected the School Committee's final push for State subsidy of the "downsized" Wilbur & McMahon School renovation project.  As a result of a financial crisis in the State, the General Assembly put a moratorium on school construction projects except in isolated cases involving health and safety. 

Consequently, the Wilbur project was "downsized" to only those repairs involving health, safety, and Code violations.  The list that was sent to the Board of Regents on July 6, 2011 included some questionable items in that they didn't appear to be health, safety, or Code issues (e.g., a new Science lab).  The School Committee may have over-reached.

Click here to see the General Assembly's letter back to RIDE.

In any event, the Board of Regents chose to not pass the request to the General Assembly.  Now it is time to do the necessary repairs using the School surplus of $1.3-Million as a start.

The School - Keep That Price High!
July 16, 2011

One of the things that drives your Taxpayers Association crazy is the lack of common sense by the mandarins running the School. They saw nothing wrong with entertaining a 45 million construction project that would have been the largest assumption of debt in Little Compton history, but now they are off and running on "Health and Safety" issues as a result of the General Assembly saying it has no money for school construction costs (as we have warned for a long time). That bill is close to $15 million! ($22 Million with interest on a 20-year loan).

One safety issue has to do with a second exit from the Cafeteria that must be addressed before school opens in September -- a few weeks from NOW. They have debated, discussed, had endless meetings, and there is still NO PLAN to address this issue. They had an "estimate" to design a door, by their Architects, that was $16,000!  Imagine a door design that could cost as much as the door itself!  To add clarity:  It's a hole in the outside wall!

WE see the possibility of a referendum to be put before the taxpayers asking for concurrence to spend millions on "health and safety" issues.  It's insane!  These people are like the Energizer Bunny - they keep going, and going, and going...

Sen. DiPalma - It's Worse Than We Thought!
July 10, 2011

 In the article below, we strongly criticized Sen. DiPalma for voting in favor of the failed Teacher Binding Arbitration bill (SB-794).  In looking deeper into what happened on June 29, 2011, we learned of several proposed amendments that Sen. DiPalma voted against in lockstep with Senator Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed.  All of them failed.

1. An amendment to make the "last best offer" come from the "local educational authority" (i.e., School Committee) rather than the Union.  Sen. DiPalma preferred the Union's last best offer and voted no.

2. An amendment to allow the School Committee to reject an arbitrator's decision on a 2/3 majority vote within 5-days.  Sen. DiPalma said no.

3. An amendment to allow the Commissioner of Education (currently Deborah Gist) to set aside a decision by an arbitrator.  Sen. DiPalma said no.

It is clear once again that Sen. DiPalma has joined in an unholy alliance with the Unions to strip local management of authority and decision making.  His choice is to solidify the authority of an unelected third party hack to dictate how much the town's taxpayers have to fork over to the union employees.

This is unacceptable and should be closely watched because it will come up again in the Fall session and we have no reason to believe that Sen. DiPalma will change his stripes.  It's pretty clear where he stands.  We want him to be "standing" on the outside looking in.  Hopefully the 2012 election will see to that.

Sen. Louis DiPalma NO GOOD FOR THE TAXPAYERS! SHOULD NOT HAVE ANOTHER TERM! CONSIDER RUNNING AGAINST HIM!

Another Sell-Out by Sen. Louis DiPalma June 30, 2011 Once again, Little Compton and all the other cities and towns in Rhode Island have dodged the bullet.  On June 29, 2011, our own Senator Louis DiPalma voted for Teacher Binding Arbitration (Senate Bill 794) along with Senate Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed and 18 other Union subservient senators passing the bill 20-to-17.  Fortunately, the House held the bill for "further study" so that it did not become law (but it will no doubt come back). Why is Teacher Binding Arbitration bad? It takes the power to set teacher salaries and benefits from our local Little Compton School Committee and hands it over to unelected "Arbitrators" whose selection is by both the School Committee AND THE UNION!  If they don't deliver for the Union, they won't get picked and, consequently, won't get paid.  Conflict of interest? Not only does this jeopardize Deborah Gist's education reforms, but it allows "outsiders" to influence the tax rate in Little Compton.  It won't take long for our tax rate (which is currently well under control) to start rising like a ballistic missile.  It has nothing to do with education and everything to do with more entitlements for union employees... just what Rhode Island needs. If you click on "Archives" on the left side of this web page, you will find an article that we wrote about Sen. DiPalma on June 21, 2009 entitled "ANOTHER BAD SENATE BILL".  If you click on "Newsletters" and bring up the 2010 newsletter, you can read where we said "He is paid for and owned by unions and has sold the towns and cities down the river." WE STAND BY THOSE WORDS! Good candidates, we need you.  Come out, come out, wherever you are!!!  Little Compton, Tiverton, Middletown, or Newport.  It makes no difference so long as they are advocates for the taxpayers rather than the unions. Again, DiPalma has to go so he can't do any more damage to us.  Your town and taxes depend on his defeat.  He ran unopposed in the last election.  We must not let that happen again. Senator Louis P. DiPalma Democrat, District 12 Little Compton, Middletown, Newport, Tiverton

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Rhode Island has no money for Wilbur School Project
May 23, 2011

As we have been warning the Town for quite some time, Rhode Island is broke and cannot be relied upon for the "promised" funding for the $31-Million school project that has been the subject of many of our newsletters and letters to the editor.  The following article appeared in the May 23, 2011 edition of the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition's "RISC-Y Business" eNewsletter.  It is now time to get real and start fixing those things in the school that need fixing. The General Assembly sent a letter dated 5/12/2011 to the Board of Regents saying: "In light of the State's current fiscal condition, we are asking that the Board not act on any construction and renovation projects currently under review by RIDE until further direction from the General Assembly."   Click Here to see the full letter.

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Census shows R.I. has 10 percent fewer children March 31, 2011 By Paul Edward Parker Journal Staff Writer As Rhode Island’s population barely grew from 2000 to 2010, the number of children calling the Ocean State home declined by almost 24,000, or 10 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The decline in the total number of children statewide might come as a surprise to many, but not to Mark G. Brown, a demographer at the Statewide Planning Program and manager of the state data center. “Our projections of that population show continued decline over the next five years to 2015, and then a bit of a rebound,” said Brown. The projections don’t show an increase of the 2000 child population until 2030, he said. The decline is due, in part, to economic conditions, he said. But, mostly, it is the lingering effect of demographic trends, including lower birth rates, in the wake of the baby boom that followed World War II and ended in the early 1960s, he said. “It’s just all part of that cycle.” Our School Building Committee sees things differently despite this article and their own demographics study which says the same thing as Mark Brown says above.  They want to increase the floor space at the Wilbur & McMahon School!  The map on the left shows Little Compton to be in the 10% to 20% decline category.  Go figure. See the full Providence Journal article.  Click here.

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Town Council Fails To Stop The Spending
March 24, 2011

The Town Council had the opportunity to stop the very expensive school project at its 24 March 2011 meeting, but failed to do so.  Given the excellent performance of this Council in the past, we are disappointed that they failed to show leadership on this one item and have set the taxpayers up for 20 years of increased taxes.  Instead of fixing the problems in the school building, they went along with the School Committee's wish list for "bells & whistles" along with an expansion of floor space with a decreasing student head count projected over the next 10 years.  The School Committee has accumulated $1.3-Million in surplus dollars.  If they had used this money to keep up with repairs and maintenance, we might not be in this position today.

Instead of rejecting the project in order to answer the many questions that still abound, the Council voted on the following motion.  Only Councilor Mataronas had the sense to vote no.

I move that the Town Council supports a school building project to correct the educational, safety, access, and environmental deficiencies of Wilbur McMahon school.  The proposed project as detailed in the revised Stage II application as of 24 March 2011, contains areas of concern which have not yet been satisfactorily addressed, but which are achievable prior to project authorization.  By copy of this vote, the School Committee is requested to address each of these issues and work with the Town Council to satisfy each concern:

1.    The overall cost of the project as presented is considered excessive when compared with cost estimates for correcting only the known physical plant deficiencies.  A plan which offers a 10 million dollar construction cost needs to be proposed.

2.    The proposed modifications which are not critical to correcting educational, access, or environmental deficiencies must be reviewed and modified (example: kitchen/cafeteria).

3.    Review by a traffic engineer must be initiated now to resolve the feasibility of the southwest expansion of the building and its impact on the site.

4.    The site work estimate - 1.3 million dollars - should be reviewed in detail with the goal of eliminating any avoidable cost or increase in footprint.  The DEM Passive Recreation grant already awarded to the Town is available as an alternative source of funding.

5.    The requested project bond estimate should be immediately decreased by the amount of unrestricted reserve funds under the control of the school district (currently a figure in excess of one million dollars).

Upon satisfactory accomplishment of these actions, the Town Council expects to schedule the project for a vote by the electors of the town.

Those voting yes believe they scored a major concession by restricting the construction cost to $10-Million.  Not so fast!  When you add the "soft costs", subtract school surplus, and then add the interest, the tab jumps up to $19.3-Million.  Assuming the State provides 42% of this as promised (with no guarantees), the Town's share would be $11.2-Million.  The annual increase in the tax levy would be $560,000... or 5.5% increase over the Budget Committee's latest estimate of property taxes.  Add 4% more to cover the normal budget increases and you are looking at a 9.5% tax hike.  Are you able and willing to absorb this in today's economy?

Based upon this turn of events, it is reasonable to assume that the Town Council will let this go to the people for a vote.  The Council's vote on this will be our next opportunity to shut this project down.  If the Council once again drops the ball, then the project will have to be stopped when it comes to a vote by the people. 

If we do succeed in stopping the Taj Mahal from being built, what would we do in its place?  Using what's left of the existing School Building Committee, send out an RFQ (Request For Qualifications) using both the MVG and the RGB reports as a "scope of work" amended as necessary and a projected budget not to exceed a certain amount, then using the QBS (Qualifications-Based Selection) process, select an experienced school building architect to develop a set of detailed drawings & specifications to be submitted as a revised Stage II application.  The goal of the proposal would be to fully satisfy all building structural and safety codes in addition to RIDE Educational Standards.  And RIDE has stated that the Town might see a 40% subsidy from the State for this approach.

We'll be closely following events and keeping you posted with reports and analysis and opinions.

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The School Building Project - Yikes!
March 9, 2011

The Wilbur & McMahon School Building Committee continues its high priced game of roulette with your money in an economy that common sense should tell anybody to avoid long term debt - especially a debt larger than anything Little Compton has ever seen!  What makes them think the townspeople can afford a multi-million dollar project that goes well beyond the real repairs that should get done?

The latest estimate is $18,930,961 not including the interest on the loan.  Using 5.5% interest for a 20-year loan, the debt becomes $31,253,683.

The "golden ring" is a State subsidy of 42% to 47% that cannot be guaranteed for 20-years of payments.  If it really does come, the Town's share of the debt is:

$16,564,451  to  $18,127,136

Here's where we have been:

JCJ's "Option 5" (Sep 23, 2008) was $22.5M ($35.6M with int)
DB's estimate (Oct 10, 2010): $28.3M ($44.8M with int)
DB's estimate (Oct 28, 2010): $23.3M ($37M with int)
DB's estimate (Nov 8, 2010): $21.6M ($34M with int)
DB's estimate (Feb 25, 2011): $19.2M ($32M with int)
DB's estimate (Mar 9, 2011): $18.9M ($31M with int)

("JCJ" is JCJ Architects, "DB" is Durkee Brown Architects)

We do not want any debt -- pay as you go -- as needed!

The opinions expressed in the website below do not necessarily reflect the official opinions and positions of the LCTA!

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