About

Our Mission

Tiverton Fact Check is a program of the Tiverton Taxpayers Association, a non-profit grassroots organization for local civic engagement.

As a fully volunteer activity of Tiverton residents striving to make their town a better place to live and perhaps a model for turning Rhode Island away from the ledge that it is rapidly approaching, Tiverton Fact Check’s various planned tools and resources will be implemented over time.

The long-term vision is to develop a Web site providing accurate, accessible information to the people of Tiverton in a way that helps them balance the demands of modern life with the requirements of a representative democracy. Among the planned features are:

• Online apps to foster transparency in government activities
• Analysis of issues and controversies relevant to the governance of the town
• Fair and well-informed debates between advocates for all sides of issues
• An open forum for reasoned and reasonable discussion, including the ability to ask and answer questions that residents may have in their roles as voters and taxpayers
• Coverage of important events

As Tiverton Fact Check develops, we will welcome suggestions for features as well as submissions of content. Send questions, comments, and suggestions to:

P.O. Box 525
Tiverton, RI 02878
(401) 525-0469
info@tivertonfactcheck.org

About Tiverton Taxpayers Association

Tiverton Taxpayers Association was founded to advance the best interests of the taxpayers of Tiverton, Rhode Island, promoting an affordable and high-quality community for taxpayers and other stakeholders through good government, low taxes, local business growth, and community involvement.

To achieve those objectives, the group will foster opportunities to be active in all forms of community engagement — civic, economic, charitable, and social — in an accountable and structured way. Understanding the busy lives that modern society demands, Tiverton Taxpayers Association seeks to develop innovative ways for Tiverton residents to stay informed and to become engaged.

Tiverton Taxpayers Association President Nancy Driggs was instrumental in reforming the way Tiverton voters approve the town’s budget each year. She was co-chair of the town’s Financial Town Meeting Changes Advisory Committee, which made the recommendation to change the annual financial town meeting (FTM) to an annual financial town referendum (FTR). She then became co-chair of the ballot advocacy group Voters for the FTR and actively worked to ensure passage of the ballot question by Tiverton voters. Nancy was also involved with the formation of East Bay Patriots and repeatedly volunteers to be a candidate for state and local office.

Nancy Driggs is an attorney, photographer and writer. She has been a Tiverton resident since 1999 and a resident of Rhode Island since 1990.

Editor

Tiverton Fact Check editor Justin Katz has been engaged in civic activities in Tiverton almost since moving to town a decade ago, initially writing about the town and reporting from local meetings for his state-level Web site, AnchorRising.com. He was a founding member of Tiverton Citizens for Change, which gave Tiverton residents an organized way to become involved in local politics and to work against massive tax increases and the challenges of the old FTMs.  He is now director of the political action committee for the Tiverton Taxpayers Association (TTA).

Justin ran for school committee in 2012, coming within three percentage points of winning a seat. He recently became a board member of the non-profit charity, Tiverton Cares. Beginning with the fiscal year 2015 budget cycle, he sponsored three successful FTRs petitions, keeping the town’s property tax levy down.  In 2016, he was elected to the Budget Committee, continuing the low-tax budgets for two more years.  In 2018, he was elected to the Town Council and became its vice president.

A carpenter by trade, Justin is now the Research Director of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, a state-based small-government, free-market think tank, and managing editor of the Center’s news and commentary Web site, the Ocean State Current.