Letter to the Editor: Vote 'No' On Merger Ballot Question
Bill Daly chairs the EG Fire District Board of Commissioners.
On Nov. 6 the voters of East Greenwich, in a non-binding referendum, will be asked the question of whether they want the East Greenwich Fire District to cease to exist and become a Fire Department within the Town. The answer to this question should be NO for the following reasons.
It is universally agreed that the East Greenwich Fire District has been providing excellent service to the East Greenwich community since 1797, 215 years. The firefighters have performed admirably over the years and are highly regarded in our Town. There is no need to change.
The Fire District is financially well managed by the Board of Fire Commissioners and does not have one penny of debt. All the independent financial audits have been excellent.
The Fire District tax rate, over the last seven years, on average, is ½ percent less than the tax rate imposed by the Town of East Greenwich.
The Fire District’s disciplined planning process has delivered an excellent replacement schedule for its fire apparatus i.e, ladders, engines and rescue vehicles. The District has $900,000 in reserve for apparatus replacement and has been able to build up this fund over the years by setting aside money each year in the budget. The District has been able to do this and still keep the tax rate for the Fire District, on average, less than the Town.
The Town Council has agreed that there is no material financial benefit or savings to the taxpayers to make this change.
Over the last 10 years, the Fire District has received $1.5 million in impact fees from developers. Since the Town does not impose impact fees on commercial development, the Town could potentially lose up to $1.5 million in impact fees over the next 10 years if the change is made.
The Fire District discusses its financial budget every month at its monthly meetings at Town Hall. All residents are encouraged to ask questions about any line item in the budget or about any aspect of Fire District operations. The Fire District operates in an open and totally transparent manner.
There is admittedly no financial or operational benefit to the taxpayers to dissolve the East Greenwich Fire District. I urge you to vote NO on the non binding referendum on November 6th.
Bill Daly, President, Fire District Commissioners
47 Peirce Street
East Greenwich, RI 02818
401-885-0096
Gene Dumas
8:17 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
Excellent points Bill. I'm voting No. As one of the residents at the informational meeting said "if it aint broke don't fix it!"
Robert K. Berlyn
8:30 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
I agree with Chairman Daly. The fire District has alway been run very well. It kind of make one wonder just why it is on the ballot ?
Chuck Newton
9:21 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
Tone deaf, entirely inappropriate, and an insult to East Greenwich taxpayers is how we should view the decision of Fire District Commissioners to politicize this referendum work to protect an archaic fiefdom.
The Fire District voted 4-1 at its Oct. 27 meeting to appropriate taxpayer funds for a mailing to all East Greenwich residents urging rejection of the non-binding referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot. The referendum asks voters if they would support Fire District consolidation, likely as an East Greenwich Fire Department reporting to the Town Manager and accountable to the Town Council.
Likely violations of both Rhode Island Open Meeting and campaign finance statutes aside, the arrogance of this action by the Fire District is what stands out. The Fire District’s constituency is the taxpayers of East Greenwich, and here we have a public body spending $2,000 in taxpayer dollars to campaign for votes to ensure its continued existence independent of the town.
If this is the typical reaction of government bodies when even the smallest of government consolidation is sought, Rhode Island will never escape the hold of inefficient and ineffective government.
Greenwp
10:36 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
Will the real Mark Schwager please stand up? As a commissioner of the Fire District, he voted against the merger at the public forum, he voted for the merger at the District 30 debate, and voted for spending our hard-earned tax dollars in a direct mailer to convince us that the merger does not make sense. He’s not alone. Commissioner Steve Bartlett is urging voters to vote against Town Council candidates Isaacs, Gee and Cianciolo. Bill Daly is defending the indefensible in a last-minute letter to the editor of Patch. And at the public forum, Commissioners were hard-pressed to say they would support the merger even if voters demanded it. This is exactly the kind of self-important behavior that makes it incumbent on us to bring the FD under the mantle of Town Government. I hope we all will be voting yes on question 8.
Jeff Cianciolo
11:31 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
The Fire District operates in a democracy vacuum. The Fire District has designed its election process so that participation from the taxpayers is seemingly as inconvenient as possible. Do you know when or how the Fire District holds its elections? (a Monday night in June, in a meeting with a 30 person quorum). Have you ever voted for a Fire District Commissioner? (probably not, one of them was elected with only 42 votes last summer; by comparison the winning town council candidates in 2010 each received 3,300 votes or more).
In all of these years has the Fire District ever recognized this lack of participation as a problem? Have they questioned whether or not they are serving their constituents? The Fire District has done nothing. The Fire District likes things the way they are. They did not want this question on the ballot.
For any voter who wants to look at both sides of the Fire District merger issue, I encourage you to read the article on the Public Forum so you can make an informed decision. http://eastgreenwich.patch.com/articles/2-visions-of-fire-district-at-forum-if-it-works-don-t-fix-it-archaic-and-closed
I will leave you with this final thought: if a group of responsible citizens were going to design a system of government for the residents of East Greenwich from scratch, I find it hard to imagine that anyone would endorse two separate municipal governments. We can do better than the status quo. VOTE YES on 8.
Jeffrey Cianciolo
Anthony Giarrusso
2:26 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Taxpayers - not the Fire District Commissioners - get to vote on this tomorrow. This discussion and everything else that Patch and others have written provides a worthwhile review. I detailed my own views several weeks ago on Patch, and I plan to vote to Yes on Question 8. You can read my rationale - Stalling Change in Rhode Island - here: http://eastgreenwich.patch.com/blog_posts/stalling-change-in-rhode-island-d77fd75b?logout=true