<div dir="ltr">This does a good job of explaining the issue.<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20161018/math-behind-27m-bond-issue-for-veterans-home-on-november-ballot">http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20161018/math-behind-27m-bond-issue-for-veterans-home-on-november-ballot</a><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 10:03 AM, Ethan Gyles <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ethangy@gmail.com" target="_blank">ethangy@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><font color="#221e1f" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" size="2"><div>Does anyone recall seeing any press on the Question 3 Veterans Home budget overruns mentioned in the Voter Information Handbook (see below)? Don't get me wrong -- veterans get a raw deal in their care and deserve better -- but the justification here is vague. Why wasn't the initial $33.5M plus federal funding enough? An additional $27M because of inflation since 2012 (which has been low) and a change in "federal guidelines"?. I'll be a default yes vote failing more info, but I'd like to see a bit more explanation and be confident this isn't turning into a funding black hole. The only articles I could find were regarding the original groundbreaking.</div><div><br></div><div><em>"These bonds will allow the State to complete a new Veterans Home that is already under construction and to borrow less money than the $94 million voters previously approved for the new Veterans Home in 2012. While voters originally authorized $94 million to be spent on the new Veterans Home, the state received federal funding and only ended up needing to borrow $33.5 million for the project.</em></div><em>
</em><p><em>Now the State needs to authorize an additional $27 million to complete the new Veterans Home project. The additional cost is a result of inflation in materials and labor since 2012. More significantly, the change in the federal guidelines for reimbursement of state veterans home construction has added more costly requirements for building the new Veterans Home. If this $27 million is authorized and added to the previous $33.5 million borrowed, the state would borrow a total of $60.5 million for the new Veteran’s Home."</em></p></font></font></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Oct 23, 2016 at 12:37 PM, Kate Sanders <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:katesndrs@yahoo.com" target="_blank">katesndrs@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131">Thanks to Aaron and all who have added to this discussion!</div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131"><br></div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131" dir="ltr">One more point: I am struggling with Question 4 (higher education). On the one hand, I am a huge fan of CCRI, RIC, and URI, and the $25.5 million for the engineering building is probably sorely needed.</div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131"><br></div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131">On the other hand, the Question also authorizes $20 million for a purpose that is so vague that it will be impossible to tell whether the money was properly spent or not: "<span id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_6124" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap">building an innovation campus that supports cutting-edge research into products, services and </span><span id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_5938" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap">businesses that will build Rhode Island’s economy."</span></div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131"><span style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_6245" face="sans-serif"><span id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_6244" style="font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap">This is essentially giving a blank check for $20 million to do anything as long as it's arguably intended to build the economy, and justifying it by including the word "innovation". Which is uncomfortably similar to the arguments for 38Studios (minus the baseball glamor).</span></font></div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131"><font face="sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></font></div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131"><font id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_6279" face="sans-serif"><span id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_6278" style="font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap">Thoughts?</span></font></div><span class="m_-95393703947188290HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131"><font face="sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></font></div><div id="m_-95393703947188290m_5311854558907706711yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477238936418_4131"><font face="sans-serif"><span style="font-size:16.66px;white-space:pre-wrap">Kate</span></font></div></font></span></div></div><br>______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
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