Barro: Time to abolish Central Falls and other troubled cities
June 1st, 2012 at 11:24 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
It’s no secret that the finances of Central Falls and other troubled Rhode Island cities have been woefully mismanaged over the years. With state leaders continuing to wrestle with how to fix them – and desperate to avoid more bailouts and interventions – it may be time to abolish these governmental units altogether, Josh Barro writes for Bloomberg View:
When a headline-grabbing event occurs, such as the exposure of Bell’s outrageous salaries or the exhaustion of the Central Falls pension fund, these cities get state-level attention and supervision. But that typically comes only after corrupt officials have had years to mismanage and exploit their cities.
The best way to protect residents of these impoverished places is to end the jurisdictions in their current form, reconstituting them in such a way that officials are more likely to be held accountable. Three such options are dissolution, merger and state takeover.
Meanwhile, Governor Chafee’s office just announced that Robert Flanders is out as Central Falls’ receiver after shepherding the community through Chapter 9; John F. McJennett III, who was chairman of DEPCO, will take over. Last night, legislative leaders signaled they will pony up $2.6 million to pay for a settlement with Central Falls’ retirees to restore part of their pension payments, which should close out the bankruptcy.
Tags: central falls, municipal
Nesi's Notes covers politics and the economy in and around Rhode Island for WPRI.com. (Twitter: 
Why is it every time there’s an un-elected leader installed these days it’s a banker?
Doesn’t matter if it’s Monti, Papademos, or McJennett. Banker. Banker. Banker.
It says a lot about who runs the show in our world today.
And it says a lot about what bankers think of democracy.
I totally agree with Barro’s comments. As Rhode Islanders, we should face the simple fact the any community that is only 1 square mile will not be able to become a viable entity, especially since the State of RI is already funding and running the school system for this community. The days of “mill towns” are well past and we, as Rhode Islanders, should embrace regionalization once and for all.
So we should “trust” so called state leaders? Give me a break. The Legislature of this behaves like a broken European parliament. Excuse me, I’d much prefer a Legislature whose hands are tied. Tied meaning, limits on what it can do to us. Limits on spending, limits on taxes, limits on regulations etc. If this is such a responsible branch of government, why haven’t we seen any effort to change dramatically the school teacher collective bargaining law. That law has been and is responsible for inflationary spending and taxes. That law is responsible for a Democrat Party behaving largely as extension of teacher unions. Every time we hear and read of more taxpayer money going for elementary/secondary education, we should read that as subsidizing the shakedown that collective bargaining law produced. So, I’m not buying into being “rescued” by a legislature of fifth rate hacks propping up teacher unions!
Rhode Island’s metro areas are too large for the suburbs to finance.
The problem is not Central Falls, it’s the State itself.
I’d be curious to see a comparison between RI and Delaware as they are similar in size and population.