Bruce Hathaway

I have been a vice president of finance/CFO for over 20 years, and have created and managed many, many budgets, in the many millions of dollars, for both domestic and multinational companies. I can positively state that a basic foundational rule for budgeting is this: Never budget spending income that you are not 100% sure of receiving. In other words, don't plan on spending money on necessities that you are not sure you are going to receive. For example, you should not count on lottery winnings to pay for your mortgage.

In budgeting circles, depending on undependable revenue sources to pay for known debts is known as a "fatal error." A finance professional or management team making such an error would be fired from their job.

Tiverton's proposed Budget No. 2 commits exactly these types of fatal errors. For example, it depends on casino revenue levels assuming the casino opens in September, and the casino is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, neither of these items are yet known by the town: The opening of the casino has been moved back several times and is still not guaranteed to open on a specific date, and the hours of operation are still open for public debate. The next meeting is not scheduled to be held until the end of May, and in fact could be rejected. Therefore, "petition" Budget No. 2 has at least two fatal errors, because it depends on income that is not guaranteed to pay the town's budgeted bills.

Tiverton Taxpayers Association member Donna Cook stated in a recent Letter to the Editor that "Budget No. 2 is balanced with a sharpened pencil." Her statement, factually, is not true. If the creators of proposed Petition Budget No. 2 make factually incorrect statements, and Budget No. 2 itself has an absolute minimum of two fatal errors, how can anyone have any faith whatsoever in any of the other numbers put forth in Budget No. 2? The answer is: you can't.

To all Tiverton voters: Don't commit a fatal error. Vote for the budget that was created by your elected Budget Committee, Budget No. 1.

Bruce Hathaway

Tiverton