Rose, every municipality in the state is in financial trouble, not only West Warwick. Eventually all of them will be negatively impacted by a tax rate increase. The difference is that WW will need to account for the settlement somewhere in their fiscal budget if the settlement is coming from the town, but i don't think it will be any worse than any other city/town in the state. The settlement may be coming out of an insurance policy though. The tax rate increase is limited to a maximum percentage increase by law, which means they are limited to how much they can raise taxes in any given year. The town hall should be able to tell you what that percentage is, and whether or not the victims will be paid from the general fund or from the town's insurance policy. That might give you a clearer indication of how the property will be affected. Joe

I guess what I am really asking is how will it affect taxes since WW obviously does not have the money to pay the settlement amount that they supposedly owe. Will the taxes jump or if the town goes bankrupt, will there be problems for the taxpayers? It is a tragedy that is having repercussions on everyone, most importantly the victims families of course.