The following is a letter by Rep. Patricia Morgan (R-Coventry, Warwick, West Warwick) posted Friday on the Central Coventry Citizens Taskforce for Fire Protection website:
"Fire taxes are going to become a larger and larger part of many Rhode
Islanders’ tax bills if union leaders have their way. And it’s a story that
starts in Coventry.
What started out seven months ago as a struggle by Coventry residents to
prevent a 60 percent jump in their fire-district tax rate has morphed into a
fight by the union to gain unfettered and permanent access to their pockets.
With 43 fire districts in the state, this has implications for many Rhode
Island households. Rhode Island fire districts are independent of the towns
where they are situated and have their own taxing authority.
Three years ago, the Central Coventry Fire District submitted a budget with
an $800,000 “error.” Although this was discovered immediately, the district
failed to correct the budget. Instead, for the intervening years, it spent not
only that extra cash, but more.
The excesses are jaw-dropping. Amidst severe cutbacks in the private sector,
overtime skyrocketed. Firefighters enjoyed incomes 50 percent greater than the
average family, yet they paid just $1,040 a year for a family health-care plan,
and were reimbursed for every out-of-pocket expense.
When the contract lapsed, they negotiated one that was even more expensive. It increased the annual longevity bonus to as high as 10 percent, raised minimum-manning quotas (a.k.a., guaranteed overtime) and increased the
percentage of officers to over 50 percent.
Additionally, the district racked up over $3.3 million in debt, and used employees’ and employers’ retirement contributions to cover the bills. To say
that spending was out of control is an understatement.
Taxpayers fought back. Three times they voted to reject the budget and the
gross mismanagement that caused it. Each time, the court intervened to give the union a chance to restructure contracts and find an acceptable compromise, but meaningful concessions never appeared. Consequently, the people voted to shut down the district and liquidate its assets.
The anger and resolve that residents demonstrated did not develop over
“minor” tax increases, but over years of steady increases and a sense that
taxpayers are being taken advantage of.
Rather than face the music and return with a proposal to control spending,
the firefighters union decided to go over residents’ heads. According to them,
the voters were mistaken. Faced with a decisive vote against union interests,
the firefighters are ignoring democracy and shifting to the General Assembly and the courts.
Offering the rationale that communities need a way to prevent fire districts from ever being liquidated, Rep. Scott Guthrie, a retired firefighter, has submitted a bill granting districts the ability to tax homeowners and businesses differently, levy supplemental taxes and, if the voters fail to approve a budget, let the district continue taxing at the previous rate increased to cover debt. They’ll be able to spend at will.
Although there is a provision to mandate annual audits, the bill does not include any tax caps. What this bill fails to acknowledge is that the problem does not lie in the ability to raise and collect taxes, but in irresponsible contracts and spending decisions. If it passes, taxpayer efforts to rein in spending will undoubtedly meet with failure. And the bill would be applied statewide.
Unwilling to rely solely on the legislature’s whims, the union is also pressing its case in the courts. It has filed motions to permanently enshrine its ability to access taxpayers’ money.
The first motion would force residents to pay the cost of their contract until it expires, even if the district is liquidated and ceases to exist!
The second would prevent any other entity from providing fire services in the
area. Citizens in Coventry have formed a task force to study alternatives and
develop a plan. They are investigating seven options, from restructuring the
current organization to contracting with a private ambulance company for
emergency medical services, as Bristol does.
All options should be on the table. If this legal motion prevails, there would be no choice. The people’s prerogative to decide for themselves where and how their money is spent would be forever lost in the codification of judicial precedent. Gone would be the principle of government “of the people, by the
people and for the people.”
The people of the Central Coventry Fire District knew what they were doing when they voted to reject the swollen and out-of-control budget. They knew that they would be liquidating an organization that had shown its inability to spend their resources wisely. They were voting to replace it with a competent and efficient fire-service system that would give them the best value at the right price. That’s democracy at work.
The union leadership is trying to short-cut democratic processes by perverting the will of the people through our legislature and courts."
Editor's Note: Rep. Morgan's letter was also published in the Providence Journal on April 16.