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@TheDeal - your statement regarding needing Federal funds to purchase much needed equipment and hiring employyes verifies my contention that legacy cost in the city are unsustainable and all citizens, school children, public safety workers, municipal employees, school teachers and people who travel throighout Warwick on pot hole filled roads are finally feeling the imapct of deverting millions of dollars in new tax dollars from services that need to be provide today by existing employees, to services that were provided decades ago by former employees.

Let me repeat those figures from the last 10 years.

City Retired Employee Expense in 2004, $18,563,658. In 2014 $33,468,060. Increase of 80.2 percent

City All other Expenses in 2004 $22,909,641 In 2014 $23,741,107. Increase of 3.6 percent.

Unless chaanges are enacted soon the situation is going to get worse. Tapping the surplus for $3.6 million to balance the 2015 budget when all bargaining units are not getting raises and the school practically level funded is another sign of big problems to come.

What is going to happen were new contracts are signed giving much derserved raises to all employees including teachers? How will we pay for the cost of hiring new firefighters reimbusement with federal dollars, once those funds run dry? Pension and healthcare costs continue to explode, where's those funds going to come from?

Now the mayor wants to borrow money for 15 to 20 years to repair roads that won't even last that long!

If the city leaders as well as the union leadership finally realize that Warwick needs to reduce the impact of the cost of legact benefits, the millions of dollars in saving can be re-invested back into each city department to purchase needed equipment and compensate active employees with annual cost of living increases in pay.

Or we can continue down the current path that will one day result in massive tax increases, a continued loss in population, business flocking away from Warwick and catastrophic cuts in benefit to both active and retired employees.

Sign of Warwick death spiral have finally begun. It could take another 5 to 10 years for the impact to escalate out of control.

The question is, does anyone want to stop it.