Bonnie Van Slyke: Your Input Is Important (at Budget Public Hearing)
The following letter appeared in local newspapers and is shared with us here by the author Bonnie Van Slyke. Bonnie Van Slyke is a member of the Charlestown Town Council.
First, the record needs to be corrected. Important details were omitted from Councilor Carney’s letter in the Westerly Sun dated April 29, 2020, regarding Charlestown’s municipal budget.
Councilor Carney failed to mention that a REDUCTION in Charlestown’s tax rate is integral to the budget adopted unanimously by the Charlestown Town Council on April 13 for presentation to the Budget Public Hearing on May 4.
For the record, the tax rate would be reduced by about $1 for each thousand dollars of valuation, from $9.23 to $8.20. This represents a reduction of 11.6%.
Councilor Carney also fails to mention that the changes in the municipal budget she advocates for simply move money from one “bucket” (an account in the town’s budget) into another “bucket” (the town’s unassigned fund balance, or reserve).
Accounting-wise what Councilor Carney proposes in her letter is technically a reduction, but in actuality the reduction would not affect the tax rate further.
Finally, the ground has very quickly shifted under our feet. The impact of the pandemic on the state, one important source of revenue for the town, is uncertain as are some of the town’s other revenue sources. Yet, in the face of uncertainty, we are required to adopt a budget for the next fiscal year.
It is important to develop priorities in order to determine how the 2020/21 budget should be constructed to accomplish the most important.
I urge voters to consider the following as discussions move forward.
- Should putting the town on the best financial footing possible as we weather this pandemic and come out the other side be a priority? (This is what is accomplished in the proposed budget.)
- Should placing certain funds in a different bucket, which locks them up for a year, be a priority?
There are two public hearings before a final budget is proposed for adoption. The first is the Budget Public Hearing on May 4. No decisions will be made at this meeting. The second is a public hearing during the Town Council meeting on May 11 where a final budget will be adopted and forwarded to referendum.
You are very much encouraged to participate in the discussions—in the online public hearings or by emailing your ideas and comments to the Town Council via our Town Clerk at arweinreich@charlestownri.org.
You can learn more about Bonnie at her profile page.
Follow this link to register for the Budget Public Hearing. Meetings are currently being held online to comply with physical distancing orders.
May 11, 2020 @ 9:50 am
MY Drive by assessment went up over 35%, it is a second home that we typically rent out to visitors to the Charlestown area, With the new rules from the State on the COVID-19 virus in effect, will that impact the assessed value of these homes, it certainly does not make them more valuable , we have now lost all of our rentals. I have provided a full appraisal to the town in April and I have not heard from the Assessor, my full inside and outside appraisal is considerably less then they drive by assessment done recently by the contractor for the Town. If there is a surplus it should be used to maintain the tax base and not spent willy nill and increasing the taxes on the home of residence in the Town.
May 13, 2020 @ 1:26 pm
That you have lost all of your rentals for this coming season is extremely unfortunate. Incorporated into the proposed 2020/21 budget is an 11.6% reduction in the tax rate, which hopefully will help, to a certain extent, those whose assessed values have increased dramatically.
Thank you for your comment that the town’s surplus should be used to “maintain the tax base and not spent willy nill.” The budget recommended by the town’s Budget Commission and adopted by the Town Council applies surplus money to that purpose. The proposed budget is intended to place the town in the best position to be able to maintain its low tax rate in the future.
Regarding your assessment, the state mandates that that the town complete an assessment every three years. In Charlestown, this mandate required the town to determine assessed values as of December 31, 2019. These values are not part of the budget process; they are determined independently. This year the assessment was statistically determined on the basis of sales in each neighborhood over the last three years.
May 4, 2020 @ 12:30 pm
The Vision Property Review website documents that the assessed value of a typical single family house increased by 16-20% due to the reassessment performed in 2019. The new assessed value represents 100% of the fair market value on 12/31/2019. Our assessment increased by 29% which is probably more typical of homes near the beach area – South of Route 1. The Ms. Van Slyke statement that the tax rate may decrease from $9.23 (2019 rate) to $8.20 (2020 rate) seems a bit misleading since assessments have increased substantially. In my case, the property tax increase (higher assessment at a lower rate) will be approximately $400.
My main concern is the short and long term effect of the Covid19 pandemic on the current assessed values. Are second homes near the ocean more valuable as “escapes” or less valuable since no one might have money to buy them. I wonder what the Tax Assessor thinks about the value of a 12/31/2019 assessment in light of the current nationwide situation ?
May 4, 2020 @ 2:15 pm
The tax rate is set by dividing the tax revenue needed by the total value of property in town. The Tax Revenue Collected is nearly staying the same as last year, but the Grand List has increased. The increase was reported as about 11% so the taxes go down about 11%. I agree the Vision website shows increases much greater than 11%. Since the revenue collected is staying the same, the taxes collected will stay the same – but not all properties moved together. I’ll try to get some explanation of why the Vision numbers are different. If those were the increases in the grand list, then perhaps the tax rate is even lower. I suspect that the overall average is about 11% even though the median is higher. Some explanation of terms below.
Tax Revenue Collected: This is the total amount the town collects from all taxpayers. This is the money used to pay the Chariho school system, maintain public roads, provide recreation, pay police, town staff and other expenses. Last year this amount was $22.9 Million. In this year’s budget it is proposed to be about $23 Million. That works out to an increase of $70,000.00 or a 0.31% change, which is much lower than the 2019 inflation rate of 2.3%. Charlestown has grown in the last year, but the total revenue collected is remaining almost unchanged.
Grand List: This is the total value of all property in town. This is currently estimated at $2.84 Billion. Last year’s figure was $2.57 Billion. The increase in property value for the whole town is about $271 Million. This increase is made up of new buildings, additions to existing buildings, and increasing building and land values throughout the town. This increase in Grand List value is up about 11% over last year.
May 4, 2020 @ 6:53 am
When the CRU treasurer refers to the surplus funds as a slush fund, I can imagine where Ms. Carney is going with the surplus funds. A slush fund is defined as a set aside to promote less than legal actions. Last year she wanted the taxpayer to identify how these funds were to be spent. Three options were identified by the public (1) lower the tax rate – done; (2) pay down the bond debt; and (3) pay into the police pension fund. The budget commission is taking up the last two options. Now Ms. Carney is ignoring the public comment and pushing her own agenda.