At the recent Grammy Awards, Bruce Springsteen opened the show with a question...."Is there anyone alive out there?" This is the question I ask myself regarding the current condition of the East Providence political and financial landscape, and here's why.
There have been four headlines that I have noted since the institution of the state appointed budget commission here in the city; an investigation into a housing board appointment, a neighborhood meeting where the commission chairman noted that we are in much better shape than Central Falls, an advance from the state on funds so we wouldn't run out of money and a repeal of city council benefits.
Somehow these actions don't underline the severity of the issues the city faces.
Here are four items to keep in mind that eliminates the illusion that we are anything close to righting the ship.
1.) In 2011, taxpayers in East Providence paid 40% more on average in HARD dollars than they did in 2001. They also paid also paid 50% more in HARD dollars in car taxes than they did ten years ago. These figures were derived from a sample of residents who still lived in the same house and owned relative models and ages of vehicles. (See chart)
2.) The city budget has increased by 27% over the last ten years going from $102,322, 844 in 2001 to $140,674,700 in 2011. These represent proposed figures from both years as reflected in the city's budget document but the numbers probably didn't change much and illustrate the point. (see attached budget documents)
3.) The US census bureau, according to their latest statistics, has indicated that the median income of the middle 80th percentile of non-senior wage earners has dropped by 7% from $53,252 in 1999 to $49,455 in 2010. This was well documented by Jared Bernstein this past Spetember
4.) The value of homes sold in East Providence in 2011 was $169,000, only a 20% increase over 2001 when it was $135,000. If the beginning of 2012 is any indicator, however, the situation points the direction of which way things are going. In January of 2012 the median sale price of homes sold in the city was $150,000 as compared to $152,000 ten years ago in January of 2001. So far, as of this writing in February there have been ten houses sold in East Providence with a median price of $138,000. If the trend continues it would mean that home values will end up being flat over ten years, though we pay 40% more in taxes for owning them.
So to sum up where we are from ten years ago:
1.) Property and car taxes we PAY are up 43%
2.) City budget has increased 27%
3.) Pay and wages have decreased by 7%
4.) The value on homes, the asset we are taxed on is flat.
Given these facts, one could make the argument that the city's budget should revert to what it was 10 years ago which would require a $38 million dollar cut from last years budget, keeping in line with the value of taxed assets and the ability to pay based on flat incomes.
The point is here that one cannot look at these figures and realize that the depth of the challenge we have in East Providence has been severely underestimated by all parties involved. The rather inauspicious start of the state appointed budget committee in the face of these facts makes no sense. That is unless it is merely an investigatory exercise leading to the next step in the process.
Clearly we are not the only community that faces this type of challenge and it appears that Mayor Tavares of Providence has had the courage to take the bull by the horns by accurately conveying to the people in Providence that the city was "staring into a black hole."
What this all means is that any hope for a better future for the city of East Providence, depends on big, bold and revolutionary decisions by those currently in charge. We can no longer kick the can down the road, for the current financial structure of the city is unsustainable.
Now its not my nature to vigorously point out challenges the city faces without offering a solution, or being a promoter of doom and gloom, and that is not my intention here. But the facts speak for themselves. Is there anyone alive out there?
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