OPINION/LETTERS: Portsmouth Town Council must require audit compliance

Council must require audit compliance

The Portsmouth Audit for fiscal year 2021–2022 has not been delivered to the people as required by law. The audit has now been late in three of the last five years and the council must get directly involved.

Any audit that is late should be considered a warning of financial difficulties. Production and publication of the audit is required by the people of Portsmouth in the Home Rule Charter, and it is in these reports that fiscal problems are usually revealed.

The annual audit is a fundamental requirement imposed by our citizens upon Portsmouth government. If the people are to have any understanding of what their government is doing with their property taxes, they must have oversight, and the audit is the only vehicle in which that can be accomplished.

The council is required to ensure the hiring of an independent auditor. The town administrator, in his turn, is required by the Charter to ensure that the audit is finished by Dec. 31 of each year. Six months to prepare the audit is more than reasonable and is much longer than the three-and-a-half months citizens get to do their taxes.

This year, at least some members of the council did not know that the audit was late. The due date for the audit passed without any discussion by the council or town administrator. There was also no council approval of the letter to the auditor general asking for an extension. The council agenda of Jan. 9 made no mention of the audit at all. During that meeting, the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens took the opportunity of the monthly financial report to ask if the audit was indeed late. The town administrator responded that it was not late and that he had obtained a 30 extension from the Rhode Island Auditor General. However, that extension cannot relieve town officials from the requirements of the Charter. In addition, state law also requires submission of an audit no later than six months from the close of the fiscal year, which is Dec. 31.

The town has had six financial directors in the last seven years and this record of turnover in the finance office increases the difficulties in conducting audits, as well as managing the budget. Portsmouth once again lost its finance director in 2022, as well as its assistant financial director. These staff changes were given as one of the reasons for the lateness of the audit.

The Portsmouth government is not meeting the requirements of the law on audits. The council is ultimately responsible for these critical lapses and it is long past time that they take action.

Larry Fitzmorris, president, Portsmouth Concerned Citizens

Demand further talks on regionalization

It was reported to me that the Newport School Committee has decided to “pause” discussion of school regionalization.

I confess to feeling depressed since the November election when regionalization was defeated by around 400Newport votes. Then, after it was revealed that members of the Newport School Committee had kept relevantfinancial information related to the Rogers construction under wraps until after the election, I waited for thenegated voters to rise up and demand retribution for such underhandedness.

But it didn’t happen - which, of course, led the perpetrators to believe that they were unaccountable for the devastating blow to the future education of Newport students.

I regard myself as patient and forgiving, sometimes beyond typical reactions to disappointment. But this time itis beyond my ability to understand how those – who were elected to provide the best possible education for thestudents in their charge – can undermine efforts to increase educational opportunity. So, now, I confess to beingangry.

From the perspective of 51 years as an educator – high school teacher, administrator in five other school districtsin three states, a superintendent of schools, and an adjunct professor at a university – I cannot find any possiblejustification for blocking current unification which could facilitate full construction of the new Rogers HighSchool and replace the deteriorating Thompson Middle School while addressing curriculum development topromote better assessment results.

Why? The current activity in the sister community – which welcomes collaboration – has a deadline. RIDE hasa deadline. The General Assembly has a deadline. But the Newport School Committee is sitting on its hands fora pause.

Wake up, Newport! The fate of your children and the future of your community await the approval of theNewport School Committee.

No, education is not satisfactory as it is right now. If it were, your test scores would be better, and youwouldn’t be making sacrifices to your construction if it were satisfactory right now.

This is the time for leadership, not cowardice or self-importance. It’s time to put your children firstlike your parents did for you.

There is no benefit to a pause. Your sister community will still build its new schools and, hopefully, improvecurriculum along the way. You will be left behind with a lesser Rogers High School and a middle school thatwill demand replacement in the near future.

I have nothing to gain from this fight, and it will probably be the last in a lifelong string of activism foreducational excellence. But I can no longer make it happen.

You can make the difference. Demand forward action – now – while you still can. For your children andfor those who come afterwards. Before it’s too late.

Barbara A. VonVillas, Middletown

Newport, Middletown school committees should work together on regionalization

Working together, the municipal governments of Newport and Middletown with assistance from the R.I. Dept. of Education (RIDE) and a few consultants have identified the many financial benefits of school regionalization from an operational and school construction perspective.

School Building Committees in both Newport and Middletown are actively but separately planning the construction of new schools to replace deteriorating and outdated school buildings.

Where are the Newport and Middletown School Committees in planning and examining the various educational aspects of school regionalization and exploring how it can benefit the students of both communities? Why aren’t they identifying how unification of curriculum development, etc. with a larger student body can offer more educational opportunities to our students?

Most of the educational community seems to support the concept of school regionalization, but has done very little together to make it work or prove its viability.

I propose that the School Committees of Newport and Middletown immediately establish a joint Education Planning Committee to explore school regionalization and unification from an educational perspective. This committee should obtain assistance from RIDE and educational consultants while engaging with representatives from the Newport and Middletown educational community (school administrators, teachers, local education advisory committees, parents and students).

The goal of this Planning Committee should be to develop a report outlining the educational benefits of School Regionalization and how it can be successfully implemented. This report would then become the basis of a new referendum on school regionalization to be presented to both communities by the 2024 elections or sooner if possible.

Ron Héroux, Middletown

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: LETTERS: Portsmouth Town Council must require audit compliance