Newport This Week - August 25, 2011

Page 1

Fishing Report Page 20

Vol. 39, No. 34

BORN FREE

THURSDAY, August 25, 2011

ALN Focuses on Pension Shortfalls

What’s Inside

“Repose” by Kathleen Armor

By Meg O’Neil

THE ARTS PaGe 27

Rhode Island is on the brink of disaster if the state does not come up with a way to pay off the reported $14 billion in unfunded pension and health-care benefits that are promised to state and town employees and retirees. That, is the view of a panel of experts who spoke at a forum sponsored by the Alliance for a Livable Newport at the Newport Public Library on Monday, Aug. 22. Entitled “Ending Our Public Pension Crisis – Discussion of the Challenges and Possible Solutions; Long and Short Term Perspectives,” the forum featured three speakers on the subject: Professor Ed Mazze, Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island, Grafton H. (Cap) Willey IV, CPA, Managing Director of CBIZ Tofias Accounting Group, and Laura Sitrin, Director of Finance for the City of Newport. According to Willey, the $14 billion pension liability translates to a

Table of Contents CALENDAR 12 CLASSIFIEDS 22 COMMUNITY BRIEFS 4-5 CROSSWORD 25 EDITORIAL 6 MAINSHEET 13 NATURE 21 POLICE LOG 5 REALTY TRANSACTIONS 5 RECENT DEATHS 25 RESTAURANTS 14-22 SPORTS 23 www.Newport-Now.com Twitter.com/newportnow Facebook.com/newportnow

Changing Roles at the Clagett Regatta Newport Skipper Paul Callahan took top honors in the Sonar class this week in the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Regatta. Enabling sailors with disabilities to reach their personal competitive goals has always been central to the mission of the regatta. Read more on p. 23 (Photo by Thornton Cohen/ThorntonCohen.com)

Industry Concerns Aired in Tour Tax Workshop By Anita Rafael In a workshop-meeting held Monday morning, Aug. 22, at in the auditorium at the CCRI campus in Newport, more than 75 audience members, all from the tourism industry and ancillary businesses, listened intently as Newport County and Bristol Convention and Visitor’s Bureau President Evan Smith recited a list of the various taxes that the tourism industry already adds to the state’s coffers: “Tourists coming to Rhode Island pay a lodging tax, food and beverage taxes, sales taxes on souvenirs, gas taxes when they fuel up here. They pay a car rental tax, and if they come by cruise ship, cruise and landing taxes. There are also gaming taxes. The industry, which is a multibillion dollar economic engine for the state, is already making a significant contribution through taxation.” Nonetheless, another tax on tourists is set to take effect in 36 days that will add a 7% sales tax on tickets for package tours and sightseeing tours in the state. Monday’s workshop was held by the state Division of Taxation, which sent six representatives from the head office. Tax administrator David M. Sullivan began by reading the newest draft of the four-page regulation document. (Copies may be obtained upstairs

at the Newport Gateway Visitors Center at 23 America’s Cup Avenue or by emailing lauren@rihospitality.org.) The purpose of the workshop was to give concerned citizens and industry partners a forum at which to ask questions and give feedback about how the new taxation law will impact their customers, as well as how it will affect the tourism industry overall. Smith said, “I am grateful to the members of the Division of Taxation for coming to Newport to explain the new law, and I am grateful to the legislators who took the time to come listen to the concerns of the industry. Bottom line is that this bill leaves Rhode Island at a competitive disadvantage against other states and could result in Rhode Island losing significantly more revenue than the small amount tax dollars they are trying to harvest.” Effective Oct. 1, 2011, tourism retailers must collect 7% sales tax from tourists on sightseeing tours by bus or boat, helicopter or airplane, and on elements of package tours that include sightseeing in the state. The regulations of the new legislation, passed with the last Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Bill in June, had undergone multiple revisions prior to the Monday meeting, and as a result of the input from the attendees at the meeting, more changes will be made to clarify exactly what is taxable and

See PENSION on page 3

Residents Sound Off On Queen Anne Square By Tom Shevlin

Visitors who have purchased a ticket for a harbor tour head towards their boat on Bowen’s Wharf. Beginning Oct. 1, tourism retailers must collect an additional 7 percent sales tax. (Photo by Rob Thorn) what is not. Although the regulations currently define a sightseeing tour as “establishments primarily engaged in providing scenic and sightseeing transportation on land, water or other means, such as sightseeing buses and trolleys, steam train excursions, and boat cruises,” the statement is somewhat unclear about what constitutes a “tour” aboard those means of transportation. For example, the current draft of the regulation said, “A travel agency arranges a five-day tour

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with one day each in Boston, MA, Mystic, CT, Portsmouth, NH, Hyannis, MA and Newport, RI: Due to the fact the tour involves interstate commerce; the charge for the tour is not subject to tax. However, any scenic and sightseeing tours purchased in Rhode Island would be subject to the provision of this regulation and subject to sales and use tax.” Conversely, the state also cited this example of a tour that would not be taxable, even though it takes place

See TOURIST TAX on page 28

NEWPORT – Pieter Roos stood before a packed audience at City Hall on Wednesday, not knowing for the most part the general temper of the room. What was clear is that since he last appeared in the council chamber back in May, there has been a near constant debate over what Roos has described as a very generous, albeit unsolicited, gift to the city. The executive director of the Newport Restoration Foundation, Roos was of course here to speak about the proposed redesign of Queen Anne Square by noted architect Maya Lin. Getting Lin, the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, was a “coup” for the Restoration Foundation, Roos said. But her proposal, which is intended to play to the park’s past by installing seating areas made to resemble colonial-era home foundations, has run into its fair share of community opposition – both over aesthetics and the process by which the project has played out. Roos sought to assuage some of

See SQUARE on page9

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