Home
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- State Sen. Leonidas Raptakis, D-Coventry, is urging Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed to call an emergency Senate session to explore ways to reduce the impact of municipal aid cuts on the cities and towns, and at the same time "engage the governor and municipal leaders in a public discussion of the impact of [those] cuts to our municipalities.''
In a letter to Paiva Weed, he also suggest the Senate convene a summit to encourage the city and town leaders to start taking serious steps to consolidate services, and begin to identify state-dictated mandates the legislature could freeze to provide the communities with some immediate financial relief.
"We have been on the sidelines too long. The situation demands leadership,'' Raptakis wrote.
There was no immediate response from Senate leaders, who have already called a two-day special session for Oct. 28 and 29 to tackle the legislature's unfinished business.
If that is, in fact, the limited agenda for the session -- final action on bills left in limbo when the General Assembly called it quits abruptly on June 27 Raptakis said the plan "does not reflect the worsening economic crisis in the state.''
Pinning his comments to a newly released Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council report predicting a stream of increasingly big deficits, Raptakis said people in his own district "are rightfully concerned'' that the state's problems will translate into further municipal aid cuts that will "lead to significant cuts in local budgets .... school closings, the loss of sports activities and other school programs, diminished police and fire services and a general reduction in municipal services.''
Extra: Senate Finance Committee chairman Daniel Da Ponte responds
