A 1/12th budget for the city was avoided when the Fall River City Council met at Government Center June 28th and voted to pass the more than $255 million dollar Fiscal Year 2017 Spending plan. It took the panel two votes to pass the budget after a 6 to 3 vote taken last week not to approve the package in its entirety, partly because of the line items dealing with trash removal.
The final vote to approve last night was 5-4 with with the following councilors voting against the budget: Richard Cabeceiras, Raymond Mitchell, Linda Pereira, and Cliff Ponte.
Perreira told FRC Media News via phone today that she is concerned with the hefty penalty that the city would have to pay if the city should break the 10 year contract it has with EZ Disposal for trash removal. Mayor Jasiel Correia II is adamant about privatizing trash despite the current contract. Perreira says, if the contract is broken not only will community maintenance workers lose their jobs beginning this Thursday, June 30th, the penalty could be $870 thousand dollars or higher.
A “Ten Taxpayer Group” Lawsuit will be heard this afternoon in Taunton Superior Court. City Councilor Ray Mitchell told FRC Media News via phone that he plans to be at that two o’clock hearing because he signed the affadavit to stop the privatization. The lawsuit filed on behalf of taxpayers is an attempt to get a temporary restraining order against the city so trash privatization cannot begin as scheduled at the start of the fiscal year, July 1st.
Photo taken from Municipal Website
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