Carcieri proposes slashing local aid, raising taxes
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Carcieri's Address Debrief
URI professor Len Lardaro and R.I. Treasurer Frank Caprio talk about the Governor's address.
Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri
NBC 10
Published: January 7, 2009
Updated: January 7, 2009
PROVIDENCE—Gov. Don Carcieri proposed an emergency budget plan Wednesday that would slash state funding for cities and towns, raise taxes and delay paying a legal settlement over a deadly nightclub fire to close a massive budget deficit worsened by a sinking economy.
The nearly $7 billion budget plan attempts to close an estimated $357 million shortfall for the fiscal year ending in June, almost 11 percent of expected state spending. Rhode Island had a 9.3 percent unemployment rate in November, one of the worst in the country.
The state’s economy fell earlier and faster than the rest of the nation as its housing bubble burst, its manufacturing sector suffered continuing job losses and a national credit crisis squeezed the small businesses that dominate Rhode Island’s economy.
“I anticipate that things are likely to get worse before they get better,“ Carcieri said in remarks prepared for a live television address.
Democrats hold a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly and can easily revamp budget plans from the Republican governor. House Speaker William Murphy could not immediately comment on Carcieri’s proposal, his spokesman said.
Under the proposal, Rhode Island would cut state funding to already-strained cities and towns by almost $75 million. Towns might lay off workers and school teachers, pick up trash less frequently or do less plowing after snowstorms, said Daniel Beardsley Jr., executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns.
As compensation for the funding cuts, Carcieri has proposed saving school districts money by centralizing school food services, creating a statewide purchasing system for school supplies, increasing health care co-payments for municipal workers and limiting their pension benefits.
Carcieri also wants to delay paying a $10 million legal settlement to survivors and family members of victims killed in a Feb. 20, 2003, blaze at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The governor intends to make the payment during the next budget year, Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said.
The blaze began when a rock band’s pyrotechnic display ignited flammable soundproofing foam lining the club’s walls and ceiling. Victims sued Rhode Island because a fire marshal failed to notice
the foam during an inspection.
Carcieri has refused to raise personal income, sales or corporate taxes to close the budget shortfall. But his plan would include a $1 hike in the state’s cigarette tax, raising it to $3.46 per pack. It would also raise $3.7 million by increasing taxes on health insurance companies.
The state work force could see benefit cutbacks. Facing budget deficits last year, Carcieri and lawmakers decided to reduce retirement benefits for state workers, prompting more than 1,700 to leave. The governor’s current budget plan would reduce automatic cost-of-living increases for state employees who retire after April 1 and scale back pensions for disabled workers.
Reader Reactions
Everybody is feeling the economic crunch but no one person should feel it more then the next. With that being said, Rhode Islanders need to shut up!!! I’m sick and tired of hearing people complain about what is and isnt getting cut. Everybody wants to help BUT nobody wants to help. Everybody says “Yeah we all need to pitch in” but when you cut money from something they are involved in, they start complaining. Cut it from schools, they complain, cut it from senior citizens and they complain, cant cut it from state workers because the unions will start crying. I agree with everyone that there is just too much fat in this state. Seriously does it really take 7 state workers to dig a hole? One digging and six watching! But WHOA! Hold on, cant touch state employees. What about welfare? If you dont need it, then why are you on it. Cant go there because people cry. What about illegal immigrants? Oh wait, they have it better then the taxpayers. If your illegal, GET OUT! Theres just too many problems in this state. Ill be honest, I dont care too much for Carcieri but what do you want the man to do when nobody wants to help. The guy has to find $357 million dollars. Im sure the Democratic Majority will veto him because they think they have a better plan. No plan will work when no one wants to play ball. EVERYBODY WANTS TO HELP BUT NOBODY WANTS TO HELP!!!!!
Why is it that the state governments can’t look to the pork in state government first? I’m sure there are plenty of things that can be cut there first—before making the people pay more taxes.
How about the state legislators expence accounts? How about the aides and the extra workers they have on their payrolls? How about just getting the people in state government to work instead of standing around talking to each other???
It seems that the first and only thing these politicos can think of is ‘raise taxes and fees’. Enough already.
I think the Governor is exactly right! Look at what O’Bama said today in his economic address. We are in trouble!!! The tax payers can NO LONGER bear some of these long term burdens that are upon them. Things have to become more realistic for everyone. The taxpayers have had enough and have no more to give. We cannot raise taxes, we must make government on all levels more efficient with less staff
( which the governor has and continues to do) and we need to cut spending, which includes some of these insane benefit packages. Our education system is beyond costly, it is a crime against the taxpayers. Really look at how much of your property taxes goes to edcuation. It is unbelievable!! I have paid for my public education at least 10 times, does that make any sense to anyone!!
$10 million to the Station Fire people!!!!! Unbelievable!
The Fire Marshall should have some responsibility for his actions. It was not just not noticing the foam - how about the door that opened inward that trapped everyone in the building that he forgot to notice! Where is he now - retired somewhere enjoying his life while the people of RI have to pay for his mistakes!!!!!
I know these people have suffered, but how much money has been given to them already! This just seems to go on and on!
Rhode Island can’t afford to provide gap financing to our universities, but just spent MILLIONS on a jail in Cranston for teens (complete with manicured basketball courts and state of the art facility). I’m sure Gilbane construction profited (which can be the only motivator for the project). Go look at ANY middle school playground - the basketball courts are cracked, the hoops are rusted - they are actually dangerous. Meanwhile, our state’s rapists/thieves have an NBA-like setting. These criminals should be stuck on treadmills and required to run 5 hours a day to lessen their aggression. We can’t stimulate business expansion or job growth, but we have exactly nine Warwick Fire Fighters who visit Stop and Shop WEEKLY and park their fuel sucking fire truck in the fire lane and then grocery shop, chat with the women, and fool around.
Our state’s parents and families are draining their savings and investments to put our children through college, while the state pumps more and more dollars into the trucks/fuel/police details/construction workers/flaggers who work on these out of control projects on our highways and roads. Drive by these projects – the Cardi Constructions employees are out there drinking their coffee and chewing on their donuts while police officers get paid time and a half to sit in their police cars to read the newspaper or talk on their cell phone to their girlfriends. Flaggers sit under umbrellas and stare into space while cars direct themselves through the maze of cones and barrels. I think the only one benefiting here are the owners at Cardi Construction. Some of these projects seem pointless, but if a project is necessary, at least run the budget like a private business would have to - with a realistic and NON-INCREASING budget! The Governor should go visit these sites himself and see what happens and then tell these guys to get efficient or else the project is going to be given to another construction company.
We have schools that are falling apart from the inside out, but the brand new East Greenwich Police Department (built by Turgeon Construction) has all the fixings - extra expensive ornamental glass, colonial accents, and too many other details to list. Go check it out - disgusting display of wasted funds. Was this more important than giving our children a BETTER place to learn? Or, again, is it to help the good people at Turgeon during an economic downturn? Maybe if we educated our children and college students, our future politicians and decision-makers would make better decisions on how to allocate our tight resources!? Walk into any City department this week and JUST WATCH. You’ve got clerks and other “officials” telling jokes, wasting time, or just complaining and treating tax-payers like dirt. Last summer, I saw a police officer on Main Street in East Greenwich riding on a Segway. I can’t remember the sticker price, but aren’t those at least a couple thousand dollars? She was nearly falling each time she went down a sidewalk decline and could barely control the thing. Aside from directing all of her attention to simply trying to NOT fall off, how was this helping the community??? It wasn’t! In fact, it is probably a lawsuit waiting to happen. She will either hit someone with it or fall herself and retire early. Rhode Island has so much potential, but it is drowning in laziness and a lack of accountability. It is time for the politicians of this state to either step up to the challenges or get the heck out of office. If you think our economy is grim now, just wait a few years as the businesses keep leaving, the jobs continue to disappear, and the irresponsible government spending continues. We need to change our thinking - but in a smart way. Let’s consolidate our public safety/service departments. Why are there dozens of fire fighters grilling outside during the summer when there are stories about shortages of paramedics? Can’t we increase our training investment and get these guys productive and streamlined? Let’s break from the “way things have been” and get smart. Why are so many of these people always just standing around wasting time and money? We need redirection and better utilization. I think the state should spend more time on refinement and efficiency. Of course, this focus will require MUCH more work and intelligence than simply cutting jobs and raising taxes (which isn’t even a REAL solution). That approach is comparable to running a failing private business and saying that you’re going to turn it around by simply firing employees and raising prices. We need to look at our government in terms of a private business and not “cut or raise taxes” or “cut or raise spending.“ That doesn’t make any sense. We need to look at efficiency. Let’s improve our State’s product (its services to its citizens and businesses) while improving the WAY we do that. Come on Rhode Island!!
First off,
How did a state this small get such a large deficit?
And why do the cities and towns have to go to such extremes as to lay off Public Safety employees to balance the budget that was created by the governor and not the cities themselves.
Crime is up because employment is down.
People cannot afford to heat their homes in the traditional sense, so house fires are on the rise.
So, yes, the first thing we do is cut the positions in cities that are needed the most.
Can anyone see that this is NOT how to balance a budget?
Cities should not be banking on state funding to balance their budgets in any case.
Cities should be trying to balance without state aid. If state aid comes, then that is all the much better. If not then there is no worries about cutting programs or jobs.
OK, so we are going to raise the cigarette tax by one dollar a pack, so the state is hoping that more people start to smoke to they can reap the monetary benefit? I can hear it now, “I hope the next generation smokes more than this one so we have a balanced budget.“
To hopewhistle
I do agree that the public school employees should be able to invest their money where they want, just go to a 401K plan, that would be the answer. The govenor, the tax payer nor the union, would no longer have any say in your pension, nor would there be any guarentees, as it should be. I never understood why grown people never wanted to take responsiblity for themselves anyway. If the pension system stays in place of a 401K, the tax payers will have a say. Most of us who contribute to a 401K pay more towards retirement than what they pay in fed taxes(as you said you do), but , most of us , would not able to retire at 50 years old and make 75%of our salaries, guranteed, plus all the benefits. Do the numbers, in a realistic market, taking into considerations the market downturns, and you will see that despite what you are contributing, you are way ahead of the game. WAY AHEAD.
But I do think the time to put people in charge of their own lives and start to contribute and MANAGE their own retirement funds. Get rid of the guarentees. The only things in life that are guarenteed is death and taxes… We need to stop this nonsense and get real.
First let me state that I am very disappointed by channel 10. The article title is misleading. While excise taxes on cigarettes are going to be raised this budget proposal will not include an income tax nor a sales tax increase. While the title is factually true it was done in poor judgement. Shame on you channel 10!!
Many people who are reading this article know someone who has been affected by the current economic crisis. Many households, families, and businesses are being forced to cut spending and make sacrifices in the wake of job losses, business slowdown, and plummeting home values. All of these households, families, and businesses are the tax base for the state and cities.
Therefore if the tax base is making less money and reducing their own spending which reduces the city and states revenue from taxes, doesn’t it just make sense that local and the state governments should reduce spending as well? Money does not grow on trees. We cant deficit spend like the federal government.
It is greedy, short sighted and downright immoral of the state and local governments to raise income/sales/property taxes during these times. It is plain wrong to ask more of someone who is taking home less money, lost or or had their benefits reduced, or lost their job to pay more in taxes so a government employee can keep their pension, salary, or raise at their current level. We are all in this together and no one group of people should be exempt from helping solve the immediate economic crisis.
It is high time that this state step into the 21st century. State and local governments need to work together to find ways to reduce spending and reduce the already sky high costs of doing business, and merely being able to live and own a home in this state or we will never get out of our current situation.
Rhode Island can’t afford to provide gap financing to our universities, but just spent MILLIONS on a jail in Cranston for teens (complete with manicured basketball courts and state of the art facility). I’m sure Gilbane construction profited (which can be the only motivator for the project). Go look at ANY middle school playground - the basketball courts are cracked, the hoops are rusted - they are actually dangerous. Meanwhile, our state’s rapists/thieves have an NBA-like setting. These criminals should be stuck on treadmills and required to run 5 hours a day to lessen their aggression. We can’t stimulate business expansion or job growth, but we have exactly nine Warwick Fire Fighters who visit Stop and Shop WEEKLY and park their fuel sucking fire truck in the fire lane and then grocery shop, chat with the women, and fool around.
Our state’s parents and families are draining their savings and investments to put our children through college, while the state pumps more and more dollars into the trucks/fuel/police details/construction workers/flaggers who work on these out of control projects on our highways and roads. Drive by these projects – the Cardi Constructions employees are out there drinking their coffee and chewing on their donuts while police officers get paid time and a half to sit in their police cars to read the newspaper or talk on their cell phone to their girlfriends. Flaggers sit under umbrellas and stare into space while cars direct themselves through the maze of cones and barrels. I think the only one benefiting here are the owners at Cardi Construction. Some of these projects seem pointless, but if a project is necessary, at least run the budget like a private business would have to - with a realistic and NON-INCREASING budget! The Governor should go visit these sites himself and see what happens and then tell these guys to get efficient or else the project is going to be given to another construction company.
We have schools that are falling apart from the inside out, but the brand new East Greenwich Police Department (built by Turgeon Construction) has all the fixings - extra expensive ornamental glass, colonial accents, and too many other details to list. Go check it out - disgusting display of wasted funds. Was this more important than giving our children a BETTER place to learn? Or, again, is it to help the good people at Turgeon during an economic downturn? Maybe if we educated our children and college students, our future politicians and decision-makers would make better decisions on how to allocate our tight resources!? Walk into any City department this week and JUST WATCH. You’ve got clerks and other “officials” telling jokes, wasting time, or just complaining and treating tax-payers like dirt. Last summer, I saw a police officer on Main Street in East Greenwich riding on a Segway. I can’t remember the sticker price, but aren’t those at least a couple thousand dollars? She was nearly falling each time she went down a sidewalk decline and could barely control the thing. Aside from directing all of her attention to simply trying to NOT fall off, how was this helping the community??? It wasn’t! In fact, it is probably a lawsuit waiting to happen. She will either hit someone with it or fall herself and retire early. Rhode Island has so much potential, but it is drowning in laziness and a lack of accountability. It is time for the politicians of this state to either step up to the challenges or get the heck out of office. If you think our economy is grim now, just wait a few years as the businesses keep leaving, the jobs continue to disappear, and the irresponsible government spending continues. We need to change our thinking - but in a smart way. Let’s consolidate our public safety/service departments. Why are there dozens of fire fighters grilling outside during the summer when there are stories about shortages of paramedics? Can’t we increase our training investment and get these guys productive and streamlined? Let’s break from the “way things have been” and get smart. Why are so many of these people always just standing around wasting time and money? We need redirection and better utilization. I think the state should spend more time on refinement and efficiency. Of course, this focus will require MUCH more work and intelligence than simply cutting jobs and raising taxes (which isn’t even a REAL solution). That approach is comparable to running a failing private business and saying that you’re going to turn it around by simply firing employees and raising prices. We need to look at our government in terms of a private business and not “cut or raise taxes” or “cut or raise spending.“ That doesn’t make any sense. We need to look at efficiency. Let’s improve our State’s product (its services to its citizens and businesses) while improving the WAY we do that. Come on Rhode Island!!
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