Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Tiverton Budget Committee is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday this week to make its final budget-related decisions.
The Tiverton Budget Committee is taking Wednesday and Thursday of this week to sift through the budgets recommended by the School Committee, Town Council, Town Treasurer and Town Clerk and make final votes. Both meetings will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Hall, 343 Highland Road. The public is invited to attend and ask questions. For information on the School Committee's 2013-14 recommended budget, click here. Tiverton Town Council members are trying to keep spending increases under 3 percent over last year's budget. For more information on the Town Administrator's $18.59 million proposed budget for fiscal year 2013-14, click here.
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Tiverton Town Hall
343 Highland Rd, Tiverton, RI
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Tuesday, May 15, 2012
The town had an approximate 25 percent turnout.
After a day with already incredible reported turnout, the results are in for the financial town referendum and Tiverton voters chose the Budget Committee's proposal by 165 votes. As of 9 p.m., Budget #1 received 1,493 votes and Budget #2 received 1,332 votes. The approved fiscal 2012-13 budget raises the tax levy by 2.6 percent and the tax rate is $18.90. Town Clerk Nancy Mello said there were 2,951 ballots cast out of 11,575 active voters, which is an approximate 25 percent turnout. She said there were about 100 voters who did not vote on either budget proposal but voted on the resolutions. To get a sense of the turnout compared to the financial town meetings of the past, Mello said the contentious 2010 FTM had 1,026 voters turnout on the…
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Tiverton Town Hall
343 Highland Rd, Tiverton, RI
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As of 4 p.m., Tiverton already has more than 1,300 ballots cast.
The election season atmosphere prevails throughout Tiverton on Tuesday for its first financial town referendum (FTR), and campaigners and voters are out in force. Polls close at 8 p.m. For the town's fiscal year 2012-13 budget, residents are voting to approve either Budget #1, proposed by the Budget Committee, or Petitioner's Budget #2, proposed by Town Councilor David Nelson. "It's better than going to the financial town meeting," said resident Debbie Behan after casting her ballot at the VFW. "It's a better use of voters' time." According to VFW Moderator Hennry Taylor, they had approximately 640 ballots cast at 2:20 p.m. Charlene Cirillo, moderator at Countryview Estates, said approximaely 302 ballots were cast at 2:45 p.m. Both …
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Tiverton Town Hall
343 Highland Rd, Tiverton, RI
/articles/turnout-running-high-in-tiverton-s-first-financial-town-referendum
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A spokesman estimates workers from the Portsmouth facility removed between 25 to 35 illegally placed Tiverton budget signs.
The round up of illegal Tiverton budget campaign signs will continue after voting day. Rhode Island Department of Transportation spokesman Bryan Lucier said officials from the Portsmouth maintenance facility, located at 170 Anthony Road, spent most of Monday morning rounding up political signs in Tiverton. "They estimate they removed 25 to 35," Lucier said. "Unfortunately, people were putting them back up as fast as we were taking them down." He noted that in some areas of Tiverton, the DOT removed lawn signs from a state right-of-way only to find a similar sign attached to a nearby telephone pole when the crew came back around. Lucier said that sometime around midday Monday, maintenance decided it would be more practical to wait until …
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170 Anthony Rd, Portsmouth, RI
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The Tiverton Town Clerk gave a run down of the ballot protocol to the Tiverton financial town referendum.
As Tiverton enters its first financial town referendum (FTR), Town Hall staff adhere to the checks and balances of the ballot collection, protection and counting process. On Monday, Town Clerk Nancy Mello confirmed she received some calls inquiring about the security of the process. The ballots are dropped off to moderators at the three polling locations in Tiverton, which are delivered by the Board of Elections. They are open today from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and each site received 1,000 ballots, polling equipment and certification forms. Mello said they also have 1,500 ballots at Town Hall kept in a filing cabinet in the vault, including the Eagle Voting Machine. Clerk Kathy Wood and Mello are the only two with the key to the filing cabinet…
41.624607
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Tiverton Town Hall
343 Highland Rd, Tiverton, RI
/articles/ensuring-integrity-to-the-tiverton-ballot-process
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Monday, May 14, 2012
After hearing of a weekend ramp up of Budget #1 and Budget #2 supporters, we took to Facebook to ask what's going on.
The landscape of town changed rapidly over the weekend, with campaign signs appearing on various lawns and properties pushing Budget #1 and others pushing Budget #2. The financial town hearing was May 1, and the town's first financial town referendum (FTR) is Tuesday, May 15. Town Administrator Jim Goncalo said late Monday afternoon that Code Enforcement Officer Gareth Eames received about three complaints of political signs being placed illegally on properties. When asked about illegally-placed Tiverton budget campaign signs on state property, a representative from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation said they would know more by Tuesday. On our Facebook page Monday, we asked residents if they've received campaign literature and/…
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Tiverton resident Rob Coulter writes a letter to the editor.
To the Editor: One of the many great things about the financial town referendum (FTR) is there will be no last-second surprises and we’ve had several weeks to consider the proposals before voting. Unfortunately, as we are seeing, this hasn’t stopped the personal attacks, manipulation of numbers, and scare tactics that are now standard practice from some who in the same breath lecture all of us on community values. At least now there’s time to respond. Proposal #1 calls for higher taxes, deliberate underestimation of revenues so town surpluses continue to grow, and much higher baseline spending partially disguised by ending our annual contributions to the landfill closure account. By shortchanging the landfill and rejecting capital …
Tiverton resident Brian Medeiros writes a letter to the editor.
To the Editor: David Nelson and TCC have a dirty little secret that they don’t want you to know. You know the budget plan they created, # 2? The one they claim will is lower in taxes than the Budget Committee’s budget 1? Well it won’t, not even the $1.39-a-week savings they promise. Here’s why. Mr. Nelson & Co, having wasted over $80,000 in legal fees in a failed effort to take back money the from the schools, have decided to “get even." Nelson’s budget plan cuts the Budget Committee’s school-budget recommendation by almost $600,000. TCC would have you believe it’s pure coincidence that this is close to the amount they failed in court to take from the schools. Here’s the secret: those funds cut from the schools aren’t simply kept in …
Tiverton resident James Arruda writes a letter to the editor.
To the Editor, The proposed budget by David Nelson I believe raises a question of a conflict of interest with the new financial town referendum (FTR) process as it would refer to elected and town officials submitting budgets. Me being a 34-year-old male who works full-time is not the same as a Town Council member who is privy to information that I am not. To be specific, I am not in executive session negotiating contracts for town employees like the police and fire departments, nor am I there discussing litigation between the town and the school department. I am also not able to go to all the meetings for due diligence on a budget due to having to work late some days. With that said, I find it a conflict of interest for David Nelson to …
Tiverton resident Justin Katz writes a letter to the editor.
Audacity is the only word for Tiverton Schools Superintendent William Rearick's declaration, during a School Committee meeting Tuesday, that "over the past ten years… our budget has decreased from 65% of the total spending of the town to 60%." He went on to list positions and offerings that have been cut, presumably to deal with the lost revenue. The reality is that, from 2001/2002 to 2011/2012, the schools' budget grew from $17.7 million to $26.9 million. That's a 52% increase. The budget for which Rearick is advocating would bring the number up to $27.9 million next year, for a total increase of 58%. (None of this includes the so-called "restricted funds" received from the state and federal governments.) The only reason Rearick is not …
Joe Sousa
8:27 am on Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Now is the time to be heard ,not after the Budget is printed. I welcome you input ,many have emailed me with comments. Or even better come to the meeting . joesousa49@yahoo.com more ›