Facts About The Charlestown Budget

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.

---

Certain individuals continue to drop cannonballs as they roll around the deck like loose cannons.

A recent cannonball was talk of a large events center in Ninigret Park. Development throughout town should indeed be a topic for the promised town-wide survey in my view. But bringing up a particular development project has no place in a discussion about the budget. Others litter Deb Carney’s Guest Commentary in the Westerly Sun dated May 14.

Here are some facts:

• The operating budget and the town’s “levy” (the amount of money collected from all of us to run our town) are virtually identical to last year’s.
• The tax rate will go down, from $9.23 per thousand to $8.20 per thousand in this budget.
• Were the tax rate not being reduced, tax bills of owners of properties that have appreciated in value would be larger.
• A number of property values, and therefore a number of assessments, have increased because, according to the data, homes in certain neighborhoods have sold recently at prices substantially above the values established a full three years ago.
• Revaluation and its timing are mandated by the state of Rhode Island, and the date that must be used is December 31, 2019. The Town Council has done nothing, nor could it, to affect the revaluation process, its timing, or its results.
• The town is required to use the assessed valuations determined by the Tax Assessor on that date, as well. This is also state law.
• The police pension plan is a promise to our police, a debt owed.
• Charlestown police pension funds are separated from the pension funds of other towns in the pension plan and are invested conservatively.
• A contribution to the pension plan for our police and the paying down of expensive debt will save taxpayers money and, therefore, will help to keep tax rates low.
• Nothing proposed by Ms. Carney at the Budget Public Hearing or in Town Council meetings would provide relief to taxpayers or reduce the tax rate, as she acknowledged herself.
• The town can provide help to those who have problems paying their tax bills. These individuals need to contact Tax Collector Jo Anne Santos at 401-364-1234.
• There is help available also for those who have trouble feeding their families.

The budget discussion should be about how best to fund the services provided by the town (such as, how our roads get plowed or our children’s education) and about how to continue to keep our ship sailing on the best course to a bright future.

The town will weather this storm if we work together, which is what we all do best—for example, when we successfully defeated Amtrak’s plan for rail lines that would have bisected our town. Or when we worked to defeat the plan to take water from Charlestown’s aquifer and truck it to Burrillville.

There is no need to panic and make poor financial decisions. The budget proposed by the Budget Commission and adopted by the Town Council is responsible and forward-thinking. I urge you to vote for the budget by voting “APPROVE.”

 

 

 

You can learn more about Bonnie at her profile page.