The 2012 Westerly Republican Town Committee Platform

As concerned citizens and taxpayers, we, the members of the Westerly Republican Town Committee have established this platform to guide our party in the 2012 town elections and the management of our town government thereafter. We love the Town of Westerly, cherish our way of life, and are concerned for the future of our town.

As a town committee we are committed to several fundamental principles. We will work to make Westerly a more affordable place to live. We will reform our town government. We will strive to make public education more meaningful and efficient, and we will work to ensure that future town development is appropriate to the special character that is Westerly and economically responsible. To act upon these principles, we have outlined several proposals that relate to each one.

1. Making Westerly More Affordable

The rate of our Town budget’s growth has fortunately allowed the Town Council to keep taxes relatively stable for the past 2 budgets. However, Rhode Islanders find themselves among the most heavily taxed people in the nation. In these difficult times, it is imperative that we review every line item in the town and school budgets and control the cost of town government.

Our Town Committee believes that town employees should be praised for their good work and effort, and should be fairly compensated for their services. The Town Committee also believes that town employees should be treated no differently than comparable employees in the private sector. Our committee believes all employees should be required to make co-pays into their benefit programs and receive pay comparable to the private sector of the job market. The over taxed citizens of Westerly should not be asked to pay ever increasing health insurance for their own families while also paying for full protections for the families of public workers. The Town Committee views this issue as one of fundamental fairness and well as fiscal good sense.

2. Making Education More Meaningful and Efficient

Westerly Republicans are committed to insuring that the children of Westerly get the best education our town can afford. Education is the key to better opportunities in life. All of Westerly’s students should get an education second to none. Many of the members of our committee are proud alumni of our public schools, and all the members of our committee are loyal supporters of the Bulldogs.

We, as a committee, also believe that the provision of a great education must be fair to the taxpayers of Westerly. The school budget should be thoroughly inspected and waste, inefficiencies, duplicated services and needless positions should be eliminated wherever they are found.

Westerly Republicans believe that the money spent on education should go to where it belongs, educating children!

Westerly Republicans also want to make our town’s public educational experience as meaningful as possible. We support the R.I. Department of Education’s Strategic Plan, Transforming Education in Rhode Island.

For better or worse, our schools not only are responsible for educating our children in the basics of knowledge, but are also often the most important (if not the only) place where our children learn personal and civic values. We believe our children should graduate not only with a good basic education, but also with the basic training to be responsible citizens.

3. Responsible Development

Even with the economic downturn, Westerly should encourage new development which can provide needed goods and services, new homes and neighborhoods, and valuable tax revenue. Our committee believes that this development should also be managed to ensure that our town’s unique character is preserved. This growth should be consistent with the Westerly Comprehensive Plan approved in February 2010. We support an environment friendlier to small business throughout the State of Rhode Island as a result of tax reform and streamlined regulations. We urge the General Assembly to repeal its recently passed law removing the exemption of the first $6,000 of the value of a vehicle from the car tax.

New developments should be examined to ensure that the physical appearance of our town remains attractive. Store fronts should be designed and landscaped appropriately. Public spaces should be preserved and maintained, and the rate of growth should be managed appropriately according to the ability of our town to adjust to new development.

Our town should also continue to maintain and upgrade our town infrastructure. As our town has grown, so has our town’s basic infrastructure needs. We support efforts spearheaded by our current Republican councilors to upgrade and maintain our town roads, beaches, and public works.

Our Town committee also supports the continued maintenance and appropriate extension of our town sewer system.

4. Our Creed and Our Cause

The Westerly Republican Town Committee has enacted this platform not to challenge any one person, group of people, or political party. Neither is this platform promulgated to advance the ambitions of any one person, or group of people within our ranks. Rather, as concerned citizens, we have enacted this platform because we firmly believe that our principles and proposals are in the best interests of the town we love.

We have given great amounts of our personal time, effort, and resources to support our party, and develop this platform, with our only motivation being to build a better Westerly.

We welcome the support of our fellow citizens in this effort, and in the coming election.