Polisena: Cuts To Towns Created State Surplus

Following news that the State of Rhode Island ended fiscal year 2011 with an $85 million surplus, Mayor Joseph Polisena said it's clear to him how that happened — "it came about because of the cities and towns."

During a phone interview from on Jan. 10, Polisena explained that the town has lost a total of $8.9 million in state funding since 2007, including a $4.8 million cut in 2010 after the state slashed its payments to cities and towns for lost car tax revenue.

"That's money that we lost and [that] didn't get replaced," Polisena said, pointing to "massive cuts that started with the Carcieri administration" as the reason for the lost state aid to Johnston.

The town has also faced a reduction of $1.5 million in education aid and $2.5 million in general revenue sharing, Polisena noted.

By comparison to his predecessor, Chafee "gets it," explained Polisena, since the current governor served as mayor of Warwick from 1993 to 1999.

Carcieri "blamed the mayors, managers, and town administrators for everything but the sun coming up," Polisena added. "We've done more than our work at the local level, and the state continued to cut."

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