Tomorrow (Saturday) is the final day for voting on the Town and School Budget at the annual FTR (Financial Town Referendum). All registered voters are eligible to vote at the High School from 7am - 8pm. Remember to bring your photo ID. Please take time from your busy schedule to help determine your town's future, and your own.
Tiverton 1st encourages every voter to get the facts and vote to approve Budget 1, the Budget Committee proposal that was put together by all three elected bodies and the professionals we pay to manage our town and school finances. It balances maintaining vital services while containing costs, and will cost the owner of a $200K home just $1.50 more per week than Budget 2, without all the negative consequences of Budget 2.
As a community group, we rely on people who share our love for Tiverton to vote, and encourage their friends and neighbors to do the same. If everyone does their part, together we can protect Tiverton's financial stability and its future.
The backers of Budget 2 have an extreme political agenda they've been unable to enact through the regular election process. So they've hijacked this budget vote to exploit the understandable financial concerns of many residents. But as has been demonstrated, Budget 2 will not only be destructive to the town's financial stability, by raiding the town's savings and underfunding vital services, but it will ultimately cost every taxpayer more. It's a potential self-inflicted wound that will benefit no one but those spending thousands to promote it.
Town finances can be complicated. At the end of the day, the question to ask is: who do you trust? Is it the people you elected to represent you, and the financial professionals they hired to manage town finances? Or a fringe political group with a self-serving agenda?
We are all taxpayers, and demand our town government balance services and costs in a responsible way. Budget 2 backers like to tell people to "control your taxes". That's what town government has been doing for the past five years. Since the large tax increase in 2010 necessitated by inadequate savings to meet a crisis, spending and tax increases have been stable, and at historic lows. Progress has been made, and long-term plans enacted. Budget 2 will reverse this progress and bring back instability and lurching from crisis to crisis, with higher taxes and new fees as a result.
This is your chance to directly decide what kind of town you want Tiverton to be. Every vote counts, and every non-vote benefits those looking to return us to financial instability. We're better than that, and we deserve better. Please get out and vote to support Budget 1 on Saturday. Five minutes doing so can prevent years of financial crises and higher costs to all of us.
Brian Medeiros
Tiverton, RI
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