The General Assembly voted to delay collecting tolls on the Sakonnet River Bridge until February 1, 2014, while studying ways to fund bridge maintenance statewide.  The general understanding is that Speaker Gordon Fox (D, Providence) made a deal with the East Bay representatives to support funding the 38 Studios fiasco in exchange for delaying the tolls.

The budget passed with those two provisions.  And it appears that five days later, Speaker Fox reneged on the deal, reinstated the tolls starting in August, and threw the people of East Bay under the bus, as well as the East Bay representatives (we think).  One hour later, Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed (D, Jamestown, Newport) did the same thing and threw the East Bay people (including those in her own district) under the bus.  This is Rhode Island politics at its worst.

From our point of view, the impact of a bridge toll to Little Compton will primarily be on families.  There are numerous people who work on Aquidneck Island.  Their costs will go up — something not easily absorbed in today’s economy.  They will now have to pay to go to work.  Families split between Little Compton and Aquidneck will now have to pay to visit each other.

Many believe that Little Compton consists of only rich people.  Let’s just say that we are having a hard time keeping our local food bank stocked!  Since Little Compton has no high school of its own and uses Portsmouth High for that purpose, the taxpayers will now have to pay an estimated $20,000 per year for school bus tolls when the full tolls go into effect.

We can’t overlook the fact that most of the East Bay legislators voted last year for the budget that included the provision for tolls on the bridge.  They would like to forget that, but we won’t.  That was the front of the bus.  And although they made a valiant effort to reverse the damage this year, they failed.  They will now have to bring in another bus to throw us under because they are running out of room under first!

Representative Nicholas A. Mattiello (D, Cranston), the House Majority Leader, defended the bill and called it a “user fee.” If that is the logic, then why aren’t all the bridges in Rhode Island subject to user fees?  And if we are to think in terms of user fees, why should taxpayers pay local taxes for schools when they have no children in them?  It’s a specious argument and was made by Mr. Mattiello to get out of a tough debate he was having with other representatives in the House.  But it shows the closed-minded thinking that pervaded the House floor on that fateful evening.

The elections next year may change the playing field, given the abysmal performance of the General Assembly in developing a fiscal year 2014 budget and running the state into the ground.  The members really need to look at themselves in the mirror and talk themselves out of ruining the great state of Rhode Island.  And Governor Chafee can rely on a title of “former Governor Chafee” next year, given his role in this rotten deal for East Bay including Little Compton.

 

Roger Lord is a member of the board of directors of the Little Compton Taxpayers Association.