Global Warming In the News

01/30/2007

Budget battles loom in R.I. By: Jim Baron , Times staff writer

PROVIDENCE - Boasting of recent achievements while warning of challenges mingled among the opportunities ahead, Gov. Donald Carcieri told a joint session of the General Assembly Tuesday that Rhode Island's "ship of state is turning and headed in a new and exciting direction."

Amid the pomp and ceremony of Carcieri's fifth State of the State speech alongside the stirring phrases and the interruptions for applause, the dark specter of a budget that must overcome a $360 million deficit when it is introduced later today cast a shadow over the House Chamber packed with senators, representatives, general officers, judges, department heads and municipal leaders. T

he Republican governor referred to it as "the elephant in the room," leavening the gloomy news with a jape that "I wouldn't mind seeing more elephants" in the heavily Democratic legislative chamber. "Balancing this budget will require sacrifices everywhere," Carcieri said in a speech televised statewide, foreshadowing a budget that may include drastic cuts in social services and reductions in the state's workforce. "We must further reform our entitlements, demand more cost-effective services from our vendors, develop new service models, and reduce our personnel costs.

In short, we must reduce our spending! "As in recent years," he told the lawmakers, "Rhode Island is benefiting from continued growth in revenues. However, each year our appetite to spend exceeds our resources. Every family watching tonight knows that if they're only getting a two percent pay raise this year, they can't spend nine percent more. The state is no different."

In the first State of the State address of his second and final term as governor Carcieri seemed to go out of his way to recognize the recent cooperation between his administration and the legislature, giving the lawmakers at least partial credit for accomplishments in tax relief, increased housing, education, health care and energy.

House Speaker William Murphy seemed to pick up on the governor's call for shared sacrifice. In an impromptu press conference after the speech, Murphy said, "as a Democrat it is incumbent upon me to protect children, to protect those members of society who have no voice without us. At the same time we have to make sure that we draw a line where we have to take care of people but not be too generous because we have a middle class out there, a working class out there, who for far too long in my opinion have shouldered the burden. "Just as real estate is location, location, location," Murphy analyzed afterward, "this State of the State is budget, budget, budget. "I anticipate very bad news" today on the budget, the Speaker said.

Carcieri said he tried to paint a picture of a state that "is progressing well, but with challenges before it." Building on his inauguration promise to make education his top priority, Carcieri focused in on urban schools in general and Central Falls in particular. "For too long, the Central Falls school district has struggled," the governor noted. "Tonight, I am requesting that the University of Rhode Island and the Central Falls school district partner to develop an Urban Academy at Central Falls High School. Bringing the University's prestige and resources to partner with the high school will be a wonderful boost to the teachers, students, and administrators.

Carcieri said the initiative was spearheaded by acting Central Falls Superintendent William Holland and URI President Robert Carothers. Murphy said the Urban Academy "may be a very productive idea. It could be a beneficial, win/win situtation. As an additional boost to urban youth, Carcieri called for an end to the moratorium on new charter schools. "Charter schools are getting good results," the governor said. "In fact, the proficiency scores of most of the urban charter schools are substantially higher than their district averages.

They are doing it with the same kids, for the same money. We owe it to these children to provide that opportunity. On education generally, Carcieri said the state needs to "take a serious look at the possible benefits of collaboration or regionalization. We can eliminate duplicate overhead costs and spend that money on student achievement, and we should. "Thirty-six school districts in our small state is too many," he declared. "In the end, we need to do what's best for our students. He also lent support to the General Assembly's ongoing effort to create a funding formula that is equitable to both urban and suburban communities. "We need a predictable and fair funding formula that recognizes the needs of all districts statewide."

He said he would also consider implementing a statewide teachers' contract. Carcieri also wants to consolidate the state's currently diverse water management authorities. "The simple fact is that Rhode Island has plenty of water," he said. "But we're not pumping it as needed. Today, Rhode Island's water is controlled by scores of different boards across the state. I would support one statewide body empowered to oversee our water resources. Carcieri proposed tapping the long-unused Big River Reservior as a source of more clean drinking water. "This area of our state was set aside in statute as a source of water," Carcieri explained, "and it needs to be accessed now. Moving aggressively forward on this plan will help ensure the continuation of economic development in Kent County and Quonset at environmentally sustainable levels."

The governor also wants to establish a Rhode Island Power Authority that would assist in achieving his goal of providing 20 percent of the state's electricity needs through renewable sources such as wind, solar and water power and to use that power to benefit Rhode Islanders.

He also pledged to sign on to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, as environmentalists have been prodding him to do for months. "Rhode Island can boast some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of any state in our region," he said.

"This agreement represents a commitment by neighboring states to follow our example. While I am still concerned about how this agreement will impact the cost of energy in Rhode Island, I have been assured that those costs can be offset by credits we will receive from other states." Matt Auten, advocate for Environment Rhode Island, called Carcieri's change of mind on the RGGI "a huge victory for Rhode Island's environment. "Governor Carcieri's announcement has national and international significance in the battle against global warming, but Rhode Islanders don't need to look further than our own coastline and the waters of Narragansett Bay to understand the importance of this decision."

Continuing a tradition begun with last year's State of the State, Carcieri closed his speech with a group-sing of God Bless America, led by staffer Aaron Guckian. Immediately after the speech, Rep. Gordon Fox and Sen. M. Teresa Paiva Weed, the Democratic leaders in their respective chambers, responded to the governor's remarks.

"I can assure you that the Democratic leadership in this General Assembly is committed to holding the line on taxes, providing incentives to improve our business climate, ensuring that our children have a quality education, and protecting our most vulnerable citizens: the children, the sick, the poor and the elderly," Fox said. "Last year," Paiva Weed said, "we passed legislation imposing stricter caps on property taxes.

Cities and towns are just now crafting budgets that conform with these tough new limits. "We will continue to address Rhode Island's crushing property tax burden," she said. "The governor's proposal tonight to continue to increase funding for education recognizes our commitment to stop the increases in property taxes." Advertisement ©The Pawtucket Times 2007