UPDATED: Elorza’s Budget Slashed By $5M By Providence Finance Comm

UPDATED: Elorza’s Budget Slashed By $5M By Providence Finance Comm

In a rare Saturday meeting of the Providence City Council’s Finance Committee, the Committee approved a FY 2020 budget that slashed Mayor Jorge Elorza’s proposed budget by $5 million.

After an hour delay to print documents, City Council Finance Chair John Igliozzi moved swiftly in navigating the Committee through the amended budget which slashes many of Elorza's initiatives, including providing more money to PVDFest and more.

Igliozzi defended his budget — and the decision to forgo a number of proposed pay raises in Elorza's budget to level fund positions, and reinstate a flat homestead exemption in the city — at an oftentimes contentious meeting, with council members — and residents in attendance — shouting each other down. 

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

“It boggles my mind that we’re trying to lower taxes and people are fighting us,” said Igliozzi. “I understand cuts are difficult — we have serious problems.”

“[But] it’s fair to give someone a $16,000 to $38,000 pay raise when we have homeless sitting outside City Hall? I cannot ethically or morally do that. My job is to lower taxes,” said Igliozzi. “The person who’s getting the 35% tax increase [under the Mayor’s proposal]? We’re trying to mitigate it. As much as we want? No. I don’t want to see people thrown out of their homes.  There are corporations dying for another housing crisis to come in.  The budget isn’t perfect — it never is.”

Igliozzi took a shot at Elorza being in Hawaii for the annual meeting of the Conference of Mayors. 

“I’m not in Hawaii — are you? We’ve got the worst schools in the nation, we’re trying to cut taxes, and where’s our fearless leader?” quipped Igliozzi. 

Homestead

The budget calls for a flat property tax rate of $24.56/per thousand of assessed value and brings back a homestead exemption of 40%, and keeps all other exemptions in place for veterans, seniors, and widows. 

According to the City Council, in order to calculate what your property tax will be under the Council Finance approved budget, take your assessed value minus 40%, multiply that number by $24.56, and then divide by $1000. 

For a $100,000 home, takes would be $1,473.60; for a $1,000,000 home, taxes would be $14,736.

“Many of our neighbors saw huge increases in their property values, as much as 20, 30, and even 50%,” said Council President Sabina Matos. “As our team evaluated the Mayor’s budget, we did so with the goal of reducing the burden on our most disadvantaged communities, many of which got hit hardest by the revaluation process. I believe this budget does that, and also continues to provide for the essential services and investments necessary to address ongoing quality of life issues. 

Top Lines 

According to the City Council, the Finance committee budget:

* Removed all proposed non-obligated pay increases
* Removed all proposed non-obligated new jobs
* Level funded almost all programs and departments
* Per the Mayor’s request, froze the commercial and tangible tax rates
* Per the Mayor’s request, fully funded the school department, and added an additional $1.5 million to their budget to address immediate needs
* Added four new laborers and two additional rodent control positions in the Department of City Works
* Decreased the police department’s travel and training 
* Decreased building repairs that can be covered by the Capital Improvement Program
* Increased rescue revenue, overnight parking, and dumpster fees

Eastside Councilwomen Helen Anthony and Nirva LaFortune criticized not having a full list of cuts in front of them to reference. 

“It’s hard to know where the $5 million cuts are — I want a list provided as soon as possible as to what the $5 million cuts are,” said Anthony. 

The City Treasurer’s office said they’ll have the full list by “Monday or Tuesday.”

Councilwoman LaFortune echoed Anthony’s concerns. 

“If we are facing significant fiscal issues — we need to be prudent. All the homestead is, is a tax rate reduction,” said LaFortune. “We don’t even have a list about how these cuts are made — and we get this — this is not professional — it’s disrespectful.”

Later on Saturday, LaFortune took to Facebook and criticized the cuts, but offered no additional solutions.

"Some severe cuts to youth programs and our city's Arts and Culture department are being considered. However, a recent new tax model with a 40% homestead has been proposed. To illustrate the various tax model scenarios, I’ve attached a property tax comparison chart to compare the Mayor's vs. Council Leadership's new model (Note, these models may not include new home valuations post-evaluation appeal process). Yes, residents would see a slight decrease. However, there would be about a $2.6 million gap when compared to the Mayor’s proposed plan.

If critical programs such as youth summer jobs, ACT initiatives, upgrading technology within city hall to increase efficiency, I would assume the city would benefit from the additional revenue. I've sent a letter to Chair Igliozzi and Council President outlining my concerns and urging the leadership to pause on implementing a tax model without a public process and appropriate vetting," wrote LaFortune.

The City Council will tentatively hold special meetings on Wednesday, July 3 to vote on the budget. If it receives first passage, the second and final vote is scheduled for Friday July 5. 

This article was first published at 6/29/19 2:05 PM