Prov Council President Says Smiley Caused “Unnecessary Confusion” on Tax Bills

Prov Council President Says Smiley Caused “Unnecessary Confusion” on Tax Bills

On Saturday, GoLocal reported that Providence Mayor Brett Smiley blamed the City Council and a software outage for the tax bills going out after they were due.

City Council President Rachel Miller fired back on Monday.

Miller said, “It is puzzling that the Mayor’s Office would misrepresent this situation after such a fruitful and collaborative budget negotiation…this was an administrative error by Mayor Smiley’s administration that could have been corrected by simply adding a sentence explaining the grace period until August 16."

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

“The Council worked diligently to pass the budget on time and as required by the City Charter. We communicated with Mayor Smiley throughout. I am disappointed by the unnecessary confusion this has caused homeowners and bewildered by the finger-pointing. Sometimes, leadership means owning your mistakes. I hope that administrative mistakes like this do not plague taxpayers in the future,” she added.

Smiley’s office claimed through his spokesperson Josh Estrella, said on Saturday in a statement to GoLocal, “The final passage of the FY25 budget was delayed by a week this year following extended negotiations with the City Council. Given this delay and the impact of the national software outage earlier this month, the printing process for this year’s first quarter property tax bills was delayed, resulting in tax bills being mailed out later than usual.”

“However, the ability to view and pay tax bills online was not impacted by these delays. The City extended the grace period for first-quarter tax payments to August 16, 2024, and has communicated the ongoing status of these tax bills on their website, through PVD 311 notifications, and on social media,” claimed Estrella.