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Mayor Avedisian,

The Town of Barnstable has 50,000 full time residents, however, from the beginning to May to the end of Sept. - early Oct. the town has 150,000 residents. Now here are some of the fiscal measures that are currently in place in Barnstable that maybe you can institute (if you have the courage)

1. All employees pay 50 % of their healthcare costs, active and retired

2. There are no sick pay buy back bonuses'

3. Retirement is 62 and/or 30 years service

4. Barnstable pays 10 holidays to all employees with a 1/2 day floating holiday. (the same 10 the federal government pays, not 14 like Warwick)

5. All DPW vehicles are GPS equipped and operators are required to also use mileage and fuel logs. The system dramatically curtailed the activity that we currently experience here in Warwick in terms of efficiency or lack thereof.

6. All employees sign employment agreements which stipulate that any arrest and conviction of any crime, misdemeanor or felony is cause for immediate dismissal. Read the current Cape Cod news to see a very recent example of the above with 2 DPW workers being terminated.

Those are just a few examples of the measures that Barnstable has in effect which aid in the generation of 10 year plans. I would be interested to see what the dollar saving amount would be , hypothetically, if those measures were instituted.

I find it disingenuous that you state how the auto tax and other economic variables preclude you from establishing a 10 year plan, as there are always adjustments to financial plans as this, as they are used simply as a TOOL TO PREDICT TRENDS ! Other economic factors and variables can be imported into the model at any time to adjust for these unknowns as they happen, to be able to continue to use the plan AS A TOOL TO PREDICT TRENDS!.

Mayor, you state that 10 year municipal forecasts are rare. Not so. Numerous communities in Massachusetts use these tools TO PREDICT TRENDS. It is interesting that as you state that none of the cities and towns in RI use these tools. Comparatively to Mass, who does use 10 year forecasts, where do we stand in terms of controlling deficits, attractability to business, construction jobs, tourism, etc... In the back seat.

By the way, Mayor Avedisian, how many years of your tenure resulted in a zero property tax rate increase? Uh, that would be none. 14 for 14, soon to be 15 for 15.