FL: Senate approves bill that requires government employees to pay into retirement system

Government employees would begin paying into the Florida Retirement System, under a bill approved Wednesday by the Florida Senate.

"The worst thing we can do to state employees, who haven't had a pay raise in five years, is to tell them we're giving them a salary reduction," said Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee. "We're dipping into the pockets of state employees. . . . We're opening the floodgates now to increasing this pension contribution over and over again."

VT: Douglas administration outlines massive restructuring plan for Vermont state government

MONTPELIER — Lawmakers and lobbyists jammed the House chamber Tuesday to learn how the Douglas administration proposed to restructure state government to maintain and even improve services while saving $38 million.

“Today’s report is intended to elicit feedback,” Secretary of Administration Neale Lunderville explained. The Legislature, advocates and citizens all have an opportunity — albeit for just a few weeks — to react, revise or replace suggestions that state managers and staff developed during the past month.

Robert Cushman: The Taxpayers’ Spin: Taxation without representation

During colonial times, Americans believed it to be a denial of their fundamental right for the British government to enact laws to tax goods and services since they lacked direct representation in the English government..   

Our ancestors would be marching in the streets if they witnessed the distain by the politically appointed Warwick Sewer Authority (WSA) board and other city leaders regarding the public’s right to have a voice in determining future sewer rates.

The mayor appoints all five members to the board for five year terms. Two members are selected from a list submitted to the mayor by the minority party in the city, currently the Warwick Democrat party. Each member is confirmed by the city council.

During recent conformation hearings, citizens requested from Councilman John DelGiudice, chairman of the Appointment Committee, an opportunity to question Aaron Guckian, seeking reappointment, on specific sewer related issues. Mr. DelGiudice refused the request, indicating that he would not allow the public to conduct an interview. Why not? Under the current system ratepayers do not have any other venue to comment on appointee’s qualifications, examine their record while serving on the board, or influence who will represent them on the board. Councilman DelGiudice suggested the citizens submit a list of questions that he would forward to Mr. Guckian.

The problem is the questions were never answered. The next month the city council, with councilors Merolla, Taylor and Solomon in the minority, voted 6 to 3 in favor of Mr. Guckian’s reappointment.

In a classic case of taxation without representation, ratepayers were never permitted a voice in the process of selecting a representative with the authority to increase sewer usage taxes.

Immediately after his re-appointment, Mr. Guckian penned a letter in the Warwick Beacon promising to work with his colleagues on the board to promote transparency and open communications with the public.

A few weeks later at a scheduled public hearing on a proposed draft report recommending sewer rate increases, only one board member, Steven Sylven attended the hearing to listen and respond to taxpayer testimony.

I guess the rest of the board believes reading meeting notes or listening to a tape of citizen testimony is ample opportunity for taxpayers to interact with them.

Citizens were outraged and demanded the meeting be postponed so that the entire board could attend. The meeting was rescheduled the following week, this time under the watchful eye of a Warwick Police officer to control those so-called unruly, ratepayers and with new rules limiting participation.

One by one, testimony was taken focusing on a more equitable manner in which to recoup losses on past projects without passing the cost to overall sewer users. Additional testimony focused on the numbers used by the consultant to produce revenue and expense projections in the rate study model. The numbers just didn’t seem right. How could the board use questionable numbers to determine rate hikes and other policy decisions?

During the testimony, one WSA board member castigated those who testified. At the outset of the meeting, the board chairman launched into what was characterized by many in attendance as a tirade, indicating that the WSA board was under no obligation to attend the public hearing and that members would not respond to questions.

I guess it’s more courageous for a WSA board member to raise his voice and denounce citizen participation while standing in the back of the room, as opposed to standing in front of those same citizens and defend your decisions while on a public policy board that has raised sewer rates over 90 percent in recent years, racked up over $6 million in sewer project deficits and made one mistake after another driving up the cost of services.

Just over two-hundred years ago, the notion of “No taxation without representation” became a battle cry in the birth of our nation. In waters just off Pawtucket Cove, our Warwick ancestors said “No” to a dysfunctional government with the burning of the Gaspee.. It was a defiant message by brave patriots sent to the British that they would not tolerate out of control taxes and diminishing quality of life.

Warwick residents, it is time to revive your heritage, stand up, demand change from our political leaders. How much longer can taxpayers sustain new tax increases and cuts in city services? It just might be time to say "No" to those who wish to stifle your right to participate in the process and begin to take back our government.

Robert Cushman is a former Warwick City Councilman and former Chairman of the Warwick School Committee. Contact him at CushmanR@cox.net.

Braving Twin Deficits; State and local leaders face a severe challenge in dealing with the short-term recession while planning for future fiscal burdens

The U.S. Government Accountability Office just issued another snapshot of the long-term future for the state and local sector. It goes without saying that the short-term outlook is daunting. State and local leaders face several years of deficits before the economy fully recovers from the Great Recession. However, even when employment and consumer spending pick up to replenish hard-pressed state and local budgets, the hard choices do not go away.

Instead, like the federal government, states face a long-term future of higher spending and lower revenues stretching out for the next five decades. A good deal of the blame goes to higher health-care costs affecting states through their roles in financing Medicaid as well as health care for their own workforces. The aging of the nation also comes home to roost in terms of higher pension costs down the road and lower revenues thanks to a smaller workforce. Moreover, outdated state revenue systems geared to an industrial economy fail to tap the growth of a technocratic service-oriented economy.

Can Green Technology Propel Economic Development?; With states looking to kick-start their economic engines, green technology is increasingly viewed as the piston helping drive it.

Traveling east along U.S. Highway 12 from Helena, Mont., it's entirely possible to drive for an hour or more without seeing another human. Windswept plains dotted by curiously named hamlets wait for signs of life to come careening down the mostly empty road.

Past Townsend, a small burg on the southern tip of Canyon Ferry Lake, the deer on the highway far outnumber vehicles; and when dusk settles in, they prove much more dangerous. But the farther east you travel, the more you notice one particular man-made structure — electric transmission towers. Specifically cross-like high-voltage direct current towers, which stand in stark contrast to the empty land that spreads in every direction.

R.I. begins long journey toward recovery from flood

Floodwaters receded throughout the state Thursday. Route 95 reopened in the afternoon, undoing two days of gridlock. And the sun burned through the morning clouds and started drying up the mess left behind by this week’s historic rains and floods.

But many Rhode Islanders will be cleaning basements, looking for jobs or detouring around washed-out roads and bridges throughout the state for weeks, and maybe months, to come.

Personal property losses may be eligible for tax break

PROVIDENCE — If you suffered a loss on personal property as a result of the recent floods, you may be eligible for a special tax break.

It’s in the form of a deduction, so it reduces the amount of your income that will be subject to tax.

You may save on taxes as a result. That, in turn, could free up some needed cash to help you get back toward where you were before the floods struck, said Jacquelyn H. Tracy, president of the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Former Rep. Victor Moffitt running for Rhode Island governor

COVENTRY — Former State Rep. Victor G. Moffitt stood on the front porch outside his office Thursday and launched what he said is a common-sense campaign to fix what ails Rhode Island.

A one-party system dominated by Democrats and high unemployment have to be eradicated, the 60-year-old tax preparer and investment professional said as he announced his candidacy for governor. And so do other things, he said, such as 36 individual school districts and individual police and fire departments in nearly all of the state’s 39 cities and towns.

Gist approves plan for Providence schools

PROVIDENCE — State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist has approved the Providence School Department’s plan to create an innovative new labor-management partnership to run four of the state’s worst-performing schools.

This clears the way for Supt. Tom Brady and Providence Teachers Union President Steve Smith to develop detailed reform plans for each of the four schools: Charlotte Woods Elementary, Feinstein Elementary at Sackett Street, Roger Williams Middle School and Cooley Health and Science Technical High School.

Cranston mayor proposes budget with 1.45 percent increase

CRANSTON — The city pool — flooded by this week’s rainstorms — would stay closed.

The Retired Senior Volunteer Program would be outsourced.

Every third city street light would be turned off.

Disposal of “white goods” and mattresses would come with a “service fee” — you pay, the city collects.

And a supplemental car tax would be adopted to make up a projected loss of $12.2 million from the state’s car-tax phaseout program.

That in a nutshell is Mayor Allan W. Fung’s budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Jim Tarbox: Government theft

At one time in this great country, it was illegal to take a person’s property and give it to someone else. I want to report a great crime. This crime was facilitated by the U.S. government, with the help of the U.S. justice system, against its own people.

On May 14, 2009, I received a letter stating I would no longer be a Jeep dealer. This action violated my constitutional rights. For my business to arbitrarily be taken away from me, my employees and my family with no compensation or explanation and then given to my competitors for nothing is unthinkable. The recipients of my Jeep franchise know and have acknowledged that this is wrong. Regardless, they have willingly accepted my stolen franchise. This certainly violates all the laws and principles that America was founded upon.

Flood will slow R.I.’s economic recovery

PROVIDENCE – The record flooding and heavy damage suffered by Rhode Island this week will affect the state’s already suffering economy for months to come.

The two record floods the state suffered in March were “like a kick in the teeth” for a state already suffering from double-digit unemployment, “but we will get through this,” Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said Thursday.

Hundreds of jobs in the state likely were affected by the storm, Keith W. Stokes, executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, told Providence Business News after a media briefing in Cranston. Rhode Island’s jobless rate was 12.7 percent in February.