hard deadlines

David Croston confers with Madeleine Pencak and Andre D'Andrea

At 9am this morning, Save Our Schools organizer Dave Croston was at the Portsmouth Town Hall to kick off the process for a financial referendum to restore $765,301 cut by the Council from the school department budget for 2011. The question would appear on a special town-wide election in September if it gathers the necessary number of signatures (approximately 1,500) in the next two weeks.

Croston submitted a proposal to Town Canvasser Madeleine Pencak, who will produce the signature forms needed; Town Solicitor Andre D'Andrea was on hand to review the language. Pencak indicated she would try to have the signature forms ready by the end of the day. D'Andrea told Croston that in his opinion, the two week window is "from when the vote was taken," which was the evening of July 28.

According to Town Finance Director Dave Faucher, the proposed increase would add 20.4 cents to the tax rate (bringing the new rate to $$11.505 per thousand), or $71.44 per year for the average Portsmouth house valued at $350K, assuming that the entire amount were covered property taxes.

In a statement sent to local media, Croston said, “We need to stand-up for Portsmouth education. Our system has delivered the most efficient system for the dollar in all of Rhode Island. It is easy in these difficult times to blame the institution, but it is honestly misplaced. Education is a fundamental right and what drove many of us to Portsmouth."

According to Croston, the referendum campaign will kick off this weekend with a signing station at Sandy Point Beach and volunteers canvassing their neighborhoods. Volunteers will be present on Monday & Tuesday night at Seveney Field, a rally is scheduled at the intersection of 138 and 138a [i.e., the intersection of East Main Road and Turnpike Ave] on Tuesday night, and there will be signing stations next Thursday and Friday at the Portsmouth High School from 6-9 am and 4-7 pm.

For more information or to volunteer to help, visit SOSPortsmouth.

Portsmouth Council considers budget.

The 40 citizens of Portsmouth who showed up at tonight's Town Council meeting witnessed a 4-3 vote to enact a budget which would give the schools a mere $129K of the $1.2M requested.

School Committee chair Dick Carpender told the Council that this would "decimate the system." But Karen Gleason made the motion, Huck Little seconded, and Peter McIntyre and Jeff Plumb voted in favor. Democrats Dennis Canario and Jim Seveney were joined by Keith Hamilton in opposing the budget.

Carpender made an impassioned defense of the teachers, the cost of whose contracts was singled out. "We have worked with the teachers and they have worked with us," said Carpender, "In the last two years, they have made over $840K in concessions, and it's not fair to them to say they're not doing their part."

But according to Plumb, it was not enough. "It's a value question," he said, adding that "We're not getting value in education now," a statement that drew hisses from many in attendance.

Seveney chided the majority for their vote. "The town spoke at the town meeting, and by and large supported the schools," he said. "You people are abdicating your responsibility. You're going to force some third party to make the hard decision," he said, referring to the proposed referendum or a Carulolo action.

Canario was even more blunt. "We all know where this is heading," he said. "We're talking 80 bucks a year for our schools. I'm optimistic that after the referendum goes in, the people of the town will support the schools."

But Tailgunner Gleason just couldn't leave it there. "The Town Council did not receive full disclosure from the School Department," she said.

This prompted Carpender to interrupt. "That is out of line, Mr. President," he shot back.

After the official reading of the budget ordinance, the meeting adjourned at 7:28.

Editorial note: It was tough to avoid the sense of deja vu at the meeting tonight, having covered the meeting four years ago where the Council made the decision to go down the path to Caruolo. But at least that was an action forced on the town by anti-tax rebels in a Tent Meeting, an experience that pushed me into localblogging.

Tonight, it was done by the elected representatives of the Town, delivered with the back of their hand to our teachers and with accusations of misconduct against the school department.

Tomorrow morning at 9 am, Dave Croston will be at Town Hall to start the process to call a special election to fully fund the schools. We need to collect about 1,500 signatures in the next 14 days to make that happen, so I would urge all school supporters to pitch in. There will be information on the Save Our Schools web site.

Correction: Originally had ten days rather than 14 for the signature collection. The language of the Charter says "two weeks after the adoption of the final Town Budget" (208.6) but it also requires the forms to be printed by the Registrar of Voters. So the clock started last night, but the signature collection can't actually start until the Registrar prints the forms.

The Portsmouth Town Council continued their final budget vote to this evening, 7pm, in Town Hall. It's critical for school (and town) supporters to continue to show up and remind the Council of what's at stake, and urge them to pass a budget based on fiscal reality that reflects the priorities of our citizens.

If you can't make it, please consider calling or sending an e-mail to the Council. Here's the one I sent this morning.

To: pmcintyre@portsmouthri.com, khamilton@portsmouthri.com, jplumb@portsmouthri.com, hlittle@portsmouthri.com, kgleason@portsmouthri.com, jseveney@portsmouthri.com, dcanario@portsmouthri.com

Subject: Please listen to the people of Portsmouth

To the Town Council:
At the Budget Hearing two weeks ago, Portsmouth citizens spoke in favor of funding the schools by a ratio of 3 to 1, with a majority specifically calling on the Council to exceed the S3050 tax cap.

I respectfully submit that the Council has a responsibility to listen to the official statements made by the people of Portsmouth during their sole opportunity to speak to this budget.

At your meeting this evening, I hope you will move beyond the gridlock which characterized the session on Monday and pass a budget which meets the real needs of our community, with appropriate funding for both the town departments and schools.

Resources:
Save Our Schools

A divided Portsmouth Town Council wrangled with the 2011 budget for more than an hour tonight before finally giving up and recessing the meeting to Wednesday.

It became clear early on that the votes were not there to exceed the S3050 tax cap, despite a letter from the Dept. of Revenue certifying our loss of state aid and essentially telling the Council they could proceed. A proposal to go $523K above cap (which would have cost the average homeowner $59) failed 4-2, with Dennis Canario and Jim Seveney in the minority (Jeff Plumb was absent.)

This prompted a discussion of what number might be acceptable and how to get there. Both Seveney and Canario expressed concern about coming up with $500K in cuts on the fly.

But Tailgunner Gleason was sure she had the answer. "I assume that both Finance Directors have a Plan B," she said, and suggested asking them to go do some work. She suggested 10% across-the-board cuts as an option. She also wondered why stop at just cutting $500K. "Why are we at the maximum?"

And Council President McIntyre knew where the problem was. "Our main stumbling block is the school department," he said, also arguing that they had sekrit plans "I read in the paper that they were working on what to do."

At this, a voice from the back of the room shouted incredulously, "You read it in the PAPER?"

Gleason proposed a budget which did not exceed the cap — which, at $54M, would have essentially cut $502K more from the schools on top of the prior $631K reduction — prompting an exasperated response from the two Democrats.

"How are we going to get down to that number," said Canario.

"We're back on page one," said Seveney, noting that the numbers had not changed in the months they had been working on the budget, and that what was proposed amounted either to a huge cut to the schools or the need to go back and revisit each line item on the town side. "There is no path forward," he said.

After discussion with the Town Solicitor the requirements for passing a budget (which has to be done within a month of the public hearing, and at a regular Council meeting) the vote on Gleason's budget failed, 3-3 with Keith Hamilton joining Canario and Seveney.

The Council voted to recess the meeting and go at this again Wednesday night.

In the one bright spot of last night, the Council voted 5-1 to refer the PCC's proposed changes to the Town Charter to a new Charter Review Committee to be formed in September. Sorry, Larry.

Also, a proposal by John Vitkevitch to put the possibility of selling the Elmhurst parcel and Glen Manor house before the voters in November was denied by the Council. In other business, the Council voted to find a different location for people hitting golf balls in Glen Park, since there were complaints from other users of the special events field.

Upcoming meetings: Wednesday night, more budget magic. Wastewater workshop September 15, Town Center workshop on September 20.

Support our schools Monday night.

On Monday night, July 26, the Portsmouth Town Council will take the final vote on the 2011 budget, which would include (since the tentative approval would no longer stand without a 6/7 majority) a $1.2M cut to the schools. If you support the schools, please be there. The Council has already taken public input at the hearing, but it's important for them to see a continuing show of support.

Editorial note: In case you're wondering why there hasn't been any coverage for the past week, my apologies — I've been on vacation.

By a 3-1 margin, citizens at last night's budget hearing opposed the $1.2M cut to the school budget made by the Portsmouth Town Council, with a majority specifically calling for an override of the S3050 tax cap. For more than an hour, the Council heard from residents — and students — concerned about the effect the cuts would have on the schools and the community.

One resident, Loramae Silvia, put things in perspective. "I'm watching this through the eyes of my grandchildren. I want to see children coming up get the privileges my other grandchildren got," said Silvia. "For goodness sake, what kind of community is this? How come people here have money for everything except schools?" Silvia received loud, sustained applause from the vast majority of the 150 citizens in the middle school auditorium.

-no 30 -

Editorial note: Meeting that ran til nearly 11pm plus full workday ahead means I'll try to catch up on the rest of the story later.

If you're attending tonight's budget hearing, you may want to read through a couple of documents that were e-mailed around. Supt. Susan Lusi sent out a fact sheet on the FY 2011 budget request, and Save Our Schools distributed FAQs on Portsmouth schools. BTW, could it be purely coincidence that today is Bastille Day?