By rejecting again the expansion of gambling at Newport Grand, voters in the City by the Sea have sent a clear message about the direction they want their city to take. But the message has implications far beyond what happens in Newport.
In fact, the answers to all of the ballot questions posed in last week’s election are going to have major impacts on Rhode Island for years to come.
The approval of all the bond questions in last week’s vote will add roughly $365 million to the liabilities column of the state’s balance sheet (according to the state’s election guide, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council estimates that number may be closer to $400 million).
If you add the uncertainty of various pension-reform efforts now winding their way through the courts, as well as the seemingly yearly significant hole in the state’s budget, and the now much-more-likely prospect that gambling revenue for the state will be a declining stream as Newport Grand continues to shrink in the face of coming gambling in Massachusetts, Rhode Island is by no means on solid financial footing.
It is clear that the state needs to invest in its infrastructure for the future. But it is also clear that that future does not hold sanguine prospects without significant budget-balancing efforts. The new leadership in the Statehouse has no time to waste on that score. •