The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity
Bond questions are too costly, near-sighted, and special interest inspired
Question 1??would put Rhode Island significantly further into debt by spending a whopping $250 million to repair school buildings (and would ask for another $250 million in 2020), and is also flawed because it:
- Bails-out irresponsible city/town and school officials
- Lacks any long-term vision, and counters what education futurists envision
- “Of course, no one wants unsafe schools,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse, “but when we are talking about this much of a new burden on taxpayers, it is imperative that we are prudent – and strategic – in how we deal with this problem.”
Question 2 and Question 3 would fund non-vital projects, geared to appease special interest concerns, and would add even more of a debt burden on RI taxpayers.
- Further, all three bonds involve massive special-interest government spending, which should never be used as a replacement for the lack of major private development projects due to our state’s dismal business climate and inability to attract private investors.
Read the entire ballot-brief here, which looks more closely at the state’s debt problem and expands the discussion on the points made above.??
- About the Center
- The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere pro-family, pro-growth research and advocacy organization. The nonprofit Center is funded entirely by private tax-deductible??donations and never accepts public funding. The mission of the 501-C-3 organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven market-based solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.