Thursday, February 05, 2009

Newport's "Shared Sacrifice"

I had asked both Newport & Middletown community leaders their reaction to the Governor's supplemental budget. I rec'd this from Mayor Napolitano:

"The city will be sponsoring a resolution next week regarding some of the Governor's supplemental budget articles which administration has indicated will be very beneficial to the City, if adopted. We do not endorse the recommendation of cutting aid to cities and towns, but realize going forward is a give and take proposition, where there will be 'shared sacrifice.'"

It will be interesting seeing what specific budget articles receive their support. No word from M'town- but that's why Jeanne is Mayor of Newport and ... they're not.

I haven't heard anything about this in the news, but I do believe that tax caps do not apply when the Gen'l Assembly cuts local aid.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Eileen...
Your belief sounds correct. If I read RIGL 44-5-2 right, and IANAL, a cut in state aid would trigger section (d) (1) The city or town forecasts or experiences a loss in total non-property tax revenues and the loss is certified by the department of revenue."

However, this still requires a 4/5 vote from the town council or a financial town meeting, so this is hardly a slam dunk.

Cheers.
-j