Included in the plan are a hike in the meals and beverage tax, a provision allowing tolls on the new Sakonnet River Bridge, and higher fees for such services as dog grooming, licenses, and cigarettes.
By giving cities and towns the bulk of the anticipated $87 million in additional revenue the state takes in, Chafee reasoned that property taxes would be more likely to remain in check.
The hallmark of the plan is to send $11 million more in local school aid to cities and towns paid for by an increase in the meals and beverage tax.
However, under Chafee's plan, Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth – whose restaurant industry already contributes significantly to the state's meals tax – wouldn't receive any of that money.
The reason? Declining school populations.
While we applaud the governor's commitment to ensuring that Rhode Island's schools are well funded (and doubt its prospects in the General Assembly), the proposal should nevertheless underscore the need for Aquidneck Island to take real steps to gird against the ongoing fallout from state's economic realities.
In Portsmouth this week, councilors began to do just that, by voting to move ahead with an audit on the town's fire department staffing levels. They also moved toward hiring civilian employees for their dispatching services.
Newporters are no strangers to efforts aimed at reining in spending on public safety, and it would be surprising if the subject doesn't come up again during this year's upcoming budget process.
At this point, we're not sure what label to slap on 2012 for Aquidneck Island. Perhaps it should be "The Year of Shared Services." Or maybe, "The Year of Business Friendliness."
What is clear is that after more than 10 years of slogging through a post-9/11 economy, the collapse of the housing bubble and ensuing great recession, fundamental changes to how government functions are needed.
Given our declining population, that we're not hearing more talk of regionalization is surprising. Where services can be safely combined for a savings, they should be.
So too should it be a priority to make Newport and its surrounding communities magnets for sustainable, innovative, businesses.
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