Jim L. Great post. The role of the budget committee assumes much greater importance as a result of the people's decision tonight. Let us hope the TCC haters on that board put their feeling aside for the good of the town and propose a budget which reflects the mood of the voter as evidenced by the composition of the current Town Council and by the results of the FTR vote and proposes a school budget that protects our children from some tightwad voters and from the selfishness of some red shirts. To follow up on what your fine post suggests, we should carefully watch the budget preparation process and the first FTR vote under this new charter provision, to see what fine tuning honestly needs to be made.
All urgent fine tuning should be made in the form of a charter amendment which must be submitted to this town council no later than June- but confirm with the town clerk-in order to be on the November 2012 ballot.

I suggest Mr Cotta resign his position as Budget Committee head for his deceit and unprincipled attempts to subvert the democratic process with lies and falsehoods.

Mike the majority of voters in town enjoy the same services. The only thing that will be cut are the 3% compounded raises every year.. We have an informed electorate.
IC FAT Informed Citizens For an Affordable Tiverton
PS. welcome to town. Please consider volunteering on one of our Boards or Commissions. It's a great way to meet some locals.

Well Mike...they just might when the clowns take over...

You should have gone a hundred yards down the road to Little Compton.

LC was my first choice, David, but it would have cost me about $125K more for a similar house and setting. I'll pay about $40K more in taxes over ten years, but it works out financially since I plan on selling the house for a permanent retirement home within eight years. Even if I lose a little money on the house, I'll have better access to some services, will be closer to civilization and can walk to Four Corners, which is something I'm really excited about. Hopeful that the FTR does not have any devastating impact on the schools or the library since good schools, services AND stability will be reflected in home values.

i don't see the schools or town suffering much more than the economy lets us, you would find that in anytown mike

Good luck on selling your house.

thats the beauty of the whole thing, Im a renter, you know, one of the people the TCC hates and tries to get us to pay extra taxes (even though the house owner already pays taxes on the property). You mess with the schools, you are going to have a lot of rental property sitting vacant.

Stop with the TCC bashing as they are not in control and you know it. BTW your fear mongering is one of the big reasons FTR passed - Tivertonians don't like fear hustlers. I am sure you know that the Budget Committee is in charge of proposing an annual budget to you and all other Tiverton electors to either approve or amend.
A word about taxpayer amendments or petitions. I am sure you also know that state statutes prevent the castration of the school budget by requiring that next fiscal years funding be no less than this years funding. If you don't want to approve the Budget Committees recommended school budget or indeed the School Dept. requested budget you can submit you own petition raising the school budget an unlimited amount and I'm sure red shirts will as that's their right under the FTR.
FYI the Tiverton voter remains in control and some years the red shirts may be the best vote getter and some years fiscal conservatives may get out the vote. What you have to do is get over your TCC hangups and focus on getting your red shirts to the Financial Town Referendum next May. All this is the hallmark of a democracy.

What are the qualifications of the current TCC appointed budget committee? Does Joe Sousa have a degree in economics? This isnt a TCC hangup, this is a clear circumvention of democratic process in teh guise of a democratic process. With teh new FTR, any 2 council members can veto a voter approved budget item. Like the library.

Once again, Dan D, the 2 councillor veto can only be attempted when the cap is exceeded. For example, the current school budget rounding down is 25 million. 4% of that is 1 million dollars. The town council cannot veto any increase in the school budget of 1 million dollars or less if the value of the town or anticipated revenue doesn't decrease and the levy doesn't increase more than 4%. You're also incorrect on a library bond veto because the library bond is exempt from the 4% cap.

Typo in favor of the school committee. This years school budget rounding is 27 million up so they actually can increase by $1,080,000 before the town council can attempt to veto.

Brian the voters have spoken and I hate to say I told you so. All of your untruths and distortions did not help your cause. I hope you can learn something from this and just tell the truth. As for Mr. Cotta I think he should resign his position from the budget committee for his role in all of this.

Rug Doctor: You're all class. Your issue may have won, but your continuing nasty, bitter, juvenile words show you are still a loser. Oh, and you LOST on the library, so you might want to reconsider the "Mission Accomplished" banner. Why don't you man up & stop taking phony cheap-shots while hiding behind the anonymity you so fully deserve? I've made every effort to be gracious & move forward, but all you HAVE is ugly bitterness & rage. Don't gloat too much. It's one thing to spend over $8000 on robo-calls & endless mailers to win an election; it's another to make the FTR plan work as promised. I respect the voters, even when I disagree with their decision. I have nothing but pity for you & your petulant-child mentality.

Mr Nelson: I stand by every word I said. Unlike you, I post using my name. Everyone knows you post your petty attacks anonymously, & then try to play the victim when someone responds. You & a few others went with personal attacks from day one, while I was trying to debate issues. I respond with facts you don't like. Name one fact I said that was false. You DID fail to run the FTR by the state. You DID waste two months & over a thousand dollars of taxpayer money on an ordinance whose only real effect would've been to allow 2 Councilors to veto voters. As an elected official, why don't you take responsibility for your words & actions instead of demonizing others? Voters chose to replace the FTM (& support the library), not crown you King of Tiverton. I was gracious in defeat as I would've been in victory; some FTR supporters were as well. But since bitter, childish attacks are all you're capable of, don't expect me or anyone else to let you get away with it. Your FTR may have won, with the help of an $8000 barrage, but your no-class reply shows you're still an embittered embarassment. And as far as honesty, explain why you repeatedly said "there's no tax cap in Tiverton" when it's provably untrue. It's your words & actions that require an apology to the people of Tiverton; don't hang your "Mission Accomplished" banner just yet.

i have never posted anything, ever, on Patch , not a single word under anything than my real name. Any assertion to the contrary is not correct.
Further l encourage you to continue to post on these pages, I find it helpful indeed.

Mr Nelson: Sure, I believe you. And please tell us how you responding to my attempt to be gracious & step back from some of the animosity of the past few months was the mature, responsible act of a public official, or even of the president of a political action committee? You keep posting too, under your actual name; people can judge for themselves who's goal is what's best for Tiverton, and whose only interest is his self-interest.

Whom to believe? Brian Medeiros or Dave Nelson? Hmmmmm....
Brian, If you're refering to yours truely, I ain't Mr Nelson, who rightly insists he ain't me: we are in complete agreement on this point. Nelson don't write as well as I do, he was in the...Marine Corps? (or was it the Air Force?) Based on the brilliance of my writing, I think I might be Justin Katz, or Mr. coulter, who's an attorney and seems to write pretty good, too. That is, he ran the Honorable Jay Edwards off the Patch one once occasion and you on another--very interesting exchange of facts on one side and opinion/nastiness/lies on the other (I won't say which was which)
No, my vote is to believe Mr. Nelson, who say that he never posted under an pseudonym, and I, Fred Floon, believe him.
Mr Nelson: BTW, congrats on the win...67 percent?! As someone once said, if we can keep the tax increase down to 3-4 percent per year, we might even be able to afford to live here long term.
Final post. FF

Dave Nelson/RD, you are by far the most arrogant human in this town and rest assured, dave, we, your CONSTITUENTS have noted your arrogance and contempt. You will have a VERY hard race to re-election next time and when you look back on your ultimate failure, remember your words here. We. the people if Tiverton, barely elected your sorry butt last time. We might not be so forgiving the next. Change your superior/elite attitude or face the consequences/vote.

Brian, you should now work to get that veto provision repealed or declared illegal. Or all the other fights that have already been won will be undone by this provision.

Dan: As I've said many times, that ability to veto voters is what bothered me most about the FTR. There's no way of knowing how many of the voters tonight didn't know about it, or were okay with it, or actively wanted it. Since the state cap law doesn't reference referendums, it's not clear how all this will ultimately work. For sure, it will fall to voters to guarantee their vote is respected by making it clear to Town Councilors that any veto of their decisions won't be tolerated. For sure, it would guarantee a legal mess. It would be helpful if the General Assembly would clarify the law to unambiguously address all scenarios, including a referendum. Not sure why that hasn't been done yet.

Brian, they didnt know about it because people, like Jane Doe above, were actively telling people that the CURRENT rule is that two councillors can override the FTM, which was a blatant falsehood.

Im not fearmongering either, I have voted Republican in every Presidential election since 1988, and these TCC people scare the begeezus out of me with thie militant ways and fanatical lies.

Your post grasps exactly what has to be done but Dan D continues with his or her unproductive vicious diatribe and denial so it is unfortunately senseless to involve him or her in this adult discussion. Back to your post which is well taken. GL 44-5-2 only requires a simple amendment to add referendums to the statute and to insure FTMs and referendums are not included in the four fifths veto provision. You have my word that this FTR supporter will draft a statute amendment and I will try to find a neutral town official to submit it to the Town Council. You now have three council votes and your job will be to work on securing a fourth vote to get it to Jay Edwards. Let us first agree we have no way of knowing what the General Assembly would do with such a law change as it is possible for compelling reasons unbeknowst to us they may not want to change it. But as I think you imply, you just don't continue to whine and demonize. Instead one does something and anybody with a modicum of intelligence can draft a change to the law which I will do and get it to you via CURB

Nancy Dreggs, BTW, your word is worthless.

Believe it or not, there is some humor in Gerry Jones posts. He gets the blog award for the most hilarious nick name "human beach ball". My apology to hbb but I am still laughing. At first I thought hbb was Mike the moderator at the FTM.
Speaking of the FTM I will not miss Mike the easter bunny and his microphone hogging, on and on and on. Mike and Mike picked up a thousand votes for the FTR. Thank you both Mikes. Thank you again Gerry for making me laugh.

Thank you Tiverton Voters!!!! You did this for YOU!!!!
Exactly, Joe! Work together Tivertonians! And Joe, you have done many things to make Tiverton a better town, such as fundraising for the Senior Center roof replacement and doing that job! Thank you for helping Tiverton! It scares me when people are scared of the TCC, Voters for the FTR, and other groups and voters who voted FOR THIS FTR!!!! If they are scared of these people who moved us forward and made things more fair, then what can they ever accomplish? Let's Work Together Tiverton! and have no fears!
And yes, I wouldn't advise angering the voters any further!

Amen to that Dad!

Ruth: Water service has nothing to do with town goverment. Water is controled by water districts and only people who get public water pay for water. Residence who live within 1000' of a fire hydrant pay a fee for fire protection service.

Hi Jim,
Your concern about the funding was shared by many. Tiverton will not spend a penny on the library until a contract has been signed by both the town and the state agency responsible for the funding. Here's the reference to that information on the new library FAQ page: http://www.tivertonlibrary.org/newbuilding/faq.php#cost-5

Nancy Dreggs, For someone who has only just involved herself in anything pertinent to the rest of the town and who purports to be a " lawyer" your attempt to sound concerned for the rest of us rings wholly false. Just admit that your only concern is to sell you million dollar home for the highest amount possible and re-locate elsewhere. We understand....

...a crazy house wife? How sexist.

thanks dad good message

You did try to be kind on your original post, that is true. It's unfortunate how this got out of hand. It's just such a hot topic on all sides.

Brian "Flip Flop" Medeiros has had post after post of misleading, distorted untrue information on here for weeks and now he thinks everything is Ok.I have no problem with an honest debate however Brian you were not at all honest. Now your the nice meek humble guy who now cares about the town. I am not buying any of your stuff at all. Mr. Nelson, Mr. Caron and others did nothing wrong they worked very hard to right a wrong for our town. You have said you were for getting rid of the FTM for years but your actions were the opposite and I and others called you on it many times on here. Sorry Brian thats how I see the facts. By the way I am not Dave Nelson or Jeff Caron or any of the people that you denounce on the pages of patch. I am going to be taking a break from here unless I see something else that is not right and needs to be pointed out. Brian I think you did a great job on here getting the voters of Tiverton to vote for the FTR. I hope they invite you to a party to honor your help with our cause.

Dave Nelsn/RD, what's the matter? Can't take the heat? We all know you have have crepe paper for political skin so why the sudden absence? Is it that now that you got your"prize" you and the rest of the dave cult are all set?

Joe, one thing we, the Tiverton voters, will not miss are your inarticulate arguments and proposals. I guess there is a silver lining to not having an FTM after all....