Paiva Weed explains Paiva Weed

By John McDaid | Friday, 20 April 2007

Last night, the public access cable show Newport County Forum hosted a panel discussion on the impact of the so-called Paiva-Weed tax cap legislation, with representatives from Aquidneck Island towns and Tiverton, and featuring State Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed.

The clip You-Tubed above is the concise and chilling explanation by Sen. Paiva-Weed about the backstory behind the legislation. Apparently, there was a move afoot to write a draconian tax cut directly into the State Constitution. As I've said before, while the Paiva Weed legislation may be imperfect, it has taken the air out of the tax rebels' sails, and provides a useful forcing mechanism.

And, thanks to Sen. Paiva-Weed, it's only legislation, not a constitutional amendment, so it is tweakable.

There were other good moments on the show, and Jim Seveney did a great job representing Portsmouth. Worth watching -- it will rerun at 7PM Sunday, and other bizarre, unpredictable times. Check out the listings on Channel 17.

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Comments

Pat Crowley

Sat, 04/21/2007 - 8:07pm

Hi John-- I stumbled on your site after another great win by the red sox .....

I Think you over estimate the goodness of Paiva-Weed. And with all do respect to your analysis in the link to your prior post, I think that is where your problem is. See, you hope that growth will give the opportunity to stop protery tax increase. It will, but it will also lead to service cuts.

See, imagine Portsmouth adds, say, 50 houses next year. (A lot? Not sure, I'm from Lincoln, we did about that.) The town has to pay for the servicing of those houses - fire, schools, police, road, sewers, etc., with not only the same money as last year, but less. See, that is the danger of paiva-weed. Shifting from the levy to the rate means that the pool of moeny shrinks every year - even if the call for services expands. Growth doesn't help, it hurts.

Sure, in the first few years, it may not be noticed. But once we get to 4% on the levy, the school budget will really get squeezed - giving the tent folks exactly what they asked for. The didn't lose the war-- they just delayed their victory for 5 years- and a lot can happen during that time, not for the good.

Now, there is one big wasy to avoid that-- and that is step two of what Paiva-Weed said in that great clip you posted (its on my site now, www-pat-crowley.org) - pass a education funding foundation formula. If the Assembly doesn't you are going to see schools start to crumble - literally. In Tiverton and Middletown they are already planning major cuts in programs and staffing - and thats only year one.

Now I don't know about you, but the only thing I hear from the Assembly is that they can't do it this year because of the defict. They can't do it next year because of the deficit. Then they won't be able to do it because of the Governor's race, then.... well, you get the point. We got screwed.

Pat Crowley
www.pat-crowley.org

John McDaid

Sun, 04/22/2007 - 8:57am

Hi, Pat...
Let me first say that your blog rocks. You are one of the must-reads for RI politics, and I have the utmost respect for your voice and vision.

And I don't really disagree with you. I've heard enough from our local town hall folks about the state of our finances to know what a significant impact the shift to the levy represents. And the delicate balancing act that levy-sensitive growth requires. I know quite intimately the results of the school staff cuts in Tiverton

I guess I'm just being "glass-half-full" here. Yeah, this is tough, but perhaps it can provide the political will to fix state ed funding (as Paiva Weed says in the second video clip I just posted, it brought together a huge coalition of folks with S3050 as a common enemy, who can be rallied to support a revamped formula).

Given that we're screwed, how can we turn our position to a tactical advantage? I prefer to think of it as five years where our town can actually focus on issues of substance, rather than fending off a bunch of clowns in the Tent.

What I can tell you is that the latest round of cuts have finally woken up a chunk of Portsmouth parents who never showed up at meetings before. And I expect that will be replicated across the state as the impact hits home. Overly optimistic? I really, really hope not.

Cheers.
-j