As a property owner and taxpayer, the town of Blackstone's management problems are a cause for concern.

The town once boasted that the Pilot (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) agreement with ANP, the electric power generating plant, would result in lower property taxes. However, taxes have more than doubled since those promises were made.

Several things happened on the road to lower taxes:

First, the town mismanaged its agreement with ANP. After ANP breached their agreement with the town by refusing to allow the town to verify the generating plant's value via an annual audit of their books in accordance with the Pilot agreement, the town, rather than enforcing the original agreement, passively allowed ANP to bully them into reducing their assessed value which resulted in the town receiving close to $3 million less than was originally projected.

Second, the town mismanaged the spending of funds on sewer projects. A large portion of the future A.N.P. pilot revenues were spent installing sewer lines throughout the Millerville and High Rocks section of the town without assessing betterment fees. Worse, the town saddled all taxpayers, as opposed to just those receiving the benefit of the sewer systems, with the cost of these projects. Of the approximately 3,500 properties on the tax roll, only 26 percent (930) were on the sewer line, yet all taxpayers are being charged for these projects. The result is that approximately 13.8 percent of our tax bills relate to these sewer projects. A property with an assessed value of $200,000 is paying $315 and a property assessed at $450,000 is paying $708 in order to subsidize the sewer systems for which they receive no benefit.

Many properties now serviced by these sewer lines could not pass Title 5 inspections of their private septic systems and as a result they could not have been sold without the installation of new septic systems that would have cost anywhere from $20,000 to $35,000. Some of those properties were vacant lots which have since been sold at a good profit and homes that were previously unsalable have also been sold at a good profit.

Taxpayers who are not on a sewer line continue to spend money to have their own septic systems maintained or replaced, while also paying for the municipal systems.

Third, the town administrator who was hired in December of 2006 has struggled to manage the town's finances. Due to his chronic delays in closing the books and reconciling cash accounts, the annual town audit of the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007 did not get started until January, 2008. As of April 25, 2008 the final audit and management letter have not yet been received. With the upcoming town financial meeting on May 27 many taxpayers may have good reason to question the numbers they are presented with.

The board of selectmen's effectiveness depends on accurate and timely financial information that they can rely on, and when the information isn't available it leaves them twisting in the wind.

George Counoyer

North Smithfield