Are you asking city officials to taint one of the last respectable icons of Woonsocket? I think you might be grasping at straws if you think Mount is raping the community for the use of it's ice. I applaud your outside thinking, but targeting Mount's ice rink maintainence fees might be a little over zealous.
-Proud WHS grad.

Mount uses city tennis courts but I believe they have their own soccer, baseball and softball fields.

Yes they do chorus and i do agree mount needs to pay up.

Keep reaching at straws James, I know, they're the rich and they need to donate to the cause right?

Nice to know the socialist movement is still kicking in Ri.

of course lets attack mount, the highest educational institution in the city. im sure one feels that any place that might look at an institution of the privileged can be looked at going after. we have so many great thinkers in this city. lets go after the parochial schools also. those teachers are making too much profit on city land. you better look at the beacon school and see how much beacon is screwing the city in taxes. hold on to your seat when you find that one out. if getting taxes from mount will save our city, i say lets take over the land and build affordable housing. reason: if mount gets taxed they close. the kids who go there will have to go to public school. mount will abandon that site. guess what brilliant thinker a large company would come in and build houses, more kids, more kids in public schools then what brilliant thinker. im sure you have a degree in economics. I have a plan to raise at least one million tax dollars a year. talked to a city council member more that once on the subject. no one ever listens to me. perhaps because im not politically correct, but just plain correct. its too easy!!

Not sure why Mr. Thomas is attacking Mr. Roberts. He is actually trying to make changes in the school department. Why Mr. Thomas would describe him as an obstructionist to trying to solve the school department debt issues is beyond me. Mr. Roberts tried to look at retiree benefits to align with current employees benefits, but didn't even get a second vote by his fellow committee members to discuss it. These changes in benefits would have immediate and long term savings to the school department's budget. He has also made donations to the Athletic Department and has supported countless events this year. He has spoken at the statehouse in support of full day K in Woonsocket. That is the type of person I want and dedication I expect from the top vote getter.

carole; nice to hear from someone who makes common sense once and a while, even whether one agrees with or not. this kindergarten issue is one of those reduculas situations again. half or full days. im for full days. same buss trips (federal money)? paying for food. teachers getting paid the same."teach the dam kids" quite playing politics.

Great Idea James, we need to think outside the box and tax all catholic schools.

If we're going to tax Catholic schools, we need to also think about school vouchers for those city tax paying PROPERTY OWNERS who send their children to Catholic Schools. I think 70% of their tax bill in a voucher sounds fair. We can't afford to support investing in our children's future and the future of Woonsocket while nontax paying Woonsocket RENTERS have cash for new cars, flat panel TV's, Cable TV and Internet, IPhones, liquer, beer, etc....

I was talking to a local business person who has two children that are students as MSC.
The discussion was not on the taxability of their property but on the potential sup-tax bill that we will be receiving. He said that he may have to transfer his children into the public system because of the additional taxes. If we taxed this non-profit or the other private schools, the tutitions would have to go up. To bring more children into the public system would only add to our financial burdens as taxpayers.

John R Dionne

Sorry Mr Dionne. Your anecdote is invalid and misleading. Mount tuition has doubled in the last 10 years and the 2012 class is the largest in the school's history. Also note that a HUGE portion of the student body is from outside the city, state, even country. Displacing the few local students that would potentially be affected by a marginal increase in tuition via a city-imposed property tax would NOT hinder the public high school in any form. On the contrary, if 10 city students were forced to leave Mount, 10 more "out-of-towners" would take their place. The increase in city revenue from these new students would offset any burden the old students might inflict.

Lastly, in regard to the local business person with 2 kids, a $ 0.25 increase in oil price would be a greater financial burden than the proposed supplemental tax. Will he take his kids out of Mount when the cost of oil goes up this summer? Or was your conversation just a piece of dramatization?

STILL HOPE; again and again, ill state this, raising taxes or going after certain groups, is not the answer. ill go along with paying fair share ! but i refuse to go broke when i have facts about abuse, stupidity, mis use of my tax dollars, mostly school dept. then wanting more. if you want to tax, tax, then lets tax all, including you . and lets have a new tax."for anyone who doesnt pay enough taxes". we can call it a "scum tax". that will surly solve our problems. by the way i dont see any one getting rich, that is working at mount or any parochial school. if it will make you feel better, i or my children did not go to mount. did john dione go to mount? if so. lets tax him, we can call that an "excessive education tax"

STILL HOPE; i pay more taxes in every form of taxation of the city structure than most citizens in this city. your correct, i guess, i, myself, is paying igonorance tax. not because i dont understand the structure of taxation in the city or state. but because i dont have a choice. maybe we should call it a"sucker public school fools tax" . so called scumbags got nothing because they provide nothing. whats fair is fair. public schools are far from being underfunded,i know that this is hard for you to understand,and believe. this is the part that is smoke and mirror, that everyone is fighting about.

When I had the conversation with the parent who had two children at MSC, I did ask
how many students came from Woonsocket. His answer, about one-third. The only property you could tax is probably the rink, which is used by non-profits. But if had your wish,and there was a influx of transfer students the tax revenue would never come close to the cost per student which is about $10,000 in the public system. If the parent in question received a $5,000 increase in taxes which would be off teh charts and has two children at Mount by transfering he would save $15,000 and we would lose $15,000 because of our
$10,000 per student cost. Sorry, there is no free lunch out there which the city taxpayers are about to find out because the Mayor and City Council failed to fund the shortfalls in the Education Department which is required by the City Charter.

John R Dionne

John Dionne, I just got off the phone with the guidance office at MSC and found out exactly 89 students, that's 10 percent of the school attendance, actually live in Woonsocket.

So, for all of you who protest that an huge influx of students out of MSC and into the Woonsocket school population will overwhelm the system, you're wrong.

Taxing the school isn't what this article was about, it was about the school paying for property it owns that isn't for educational purposes; ie, the ice rink. Patrons use the rink and pay for the privilege; MSC should contribute to the city part of those proceeds.

How many times has someone been injured at the rink and a fire truck or rescue squad had to respond? Is a fire marshal or police detail ever needed at the rink? The school no doubt has to pay those fees.

When Mayor Taveras negotiates "Payment in lieu of tax," deals in Providence to get the non-profits there to pay into the city coffers you have to wonder why the mayor here can't do the same thing.

Early on there was a comment about Mount St. Charles being a city icon and I found that funny. Quite a few people would consider Chan's or the Beef barn icons too, but you wouldn't take them off the tax rolls, would you?

We DID have to take our child out of Mount. We are part of the hard working middle class that has NEVER received public assistance for ANYTHING in our entire lives. ALWAYS WORKED! We actually waited 5 years before getting married so we could save our money - waited another 3 years to have our first child - AGAIN so we could save and afford the expenses associated with having children - bought a small home and we PAY OUR TAXES. We have NEVER received a dime from anyone for anything unless we EARNED it. We struggled to pay the tuition at Mount year after year but Mount has continued to raise their tuition year after year after year, despite the economic conditions. Amazing how you can work so hard and do everything the RIGHT WAY yet so many people in this city are having children out of wedlock and not getting married so they can get everything HANDED to them. Could not be more frustrating!

english; these hard working people never tried to look down on anyone. they just told their story. have the hard working american dream !! not the welfare american dream. at the time I could not afford to send my 2 kids or chose not to send them to mount. they both graduated from woon. both are extremely sucessful in life. one of my grand children goes to mount. one of my kids dream. well deserving! nobody was trying to be snobbish. please dont attack people who just try to do the right thing!

new to this site. ive come to realize something. reading comments, its difficult where people are coming from when you dont know their background, especially, their tax status.or whats in it for them. the only good thing is once in a while someone will have a subjective view to learn from. I once meet a person i believed to be called the doctor, who was running for, or wanted to run for mayor. im wondering???

hello; i meant an objective view to learn from. most comments on this site are subjective.