UPDATED: Prov City Council Passes Budget With Cuts and Homestead, Pare's Salary Slashed

UPDATED: Prov City Council Passes Budget With Cuts and Homestead, Pare's Salary Slashed

The battle is over. The month-long raging battle between the Providence City Council and Mayor Jorge Elorza has concluded and the mayor’s agenda was left in tatters.

Even Providence Police Commissioner Steven Pare’s proposed salary increase was cut by the City Council. An embarrassment to the Elorza administration, Pare's salary, which had been requested to get a $39,284 boost, was rejected by the Council to be at $125,878 for next Fiscal Year. The Council and Pare have had a series of ongoing disputes.

SEE BUDGET DETAILS BELOW

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East Side Dissents

The City Council voted 11 to 4 on first passage of the budget on Wednesday. Council members from the East Side -- Seth Yurdin (Ward 1), Helen Anthony (Ward 2) and Nirva LaFortune (Ward 3) as well as former Council President David Salvatore (Ward 14) all voted against it.

Less than six weeks ago Elorza called his budget, “Investing in Our Future By Investing in Our People.”  Since then, there was a shooting at the Mayor’s pet project PVDFest, the Providence Schools have been deemed among the worst in America, a brutal murder of Federal Hill, and Elorza inflamed the city by leaving in the midst of the education review and budget battle to attend a conference in Hawaii.  

Councilman Nick Narducci blasted the East Side contingent. "I stand in support [of the budget] — I’m getting tired of hearing how we as the council are putting one side of the city against each other, when I think it was the administration did that us. 81% are going to see a fair value on taxes. I can remember 57 years ago how our city was cut up for whatever reasons. When I saw the Administration's proposals — I shook my head."

LaFortune noted in her opposition statement on the floor during debate, "We cannot ignore due process. The budget is concerning — it reduces the levy…and most importantly it did not go through the appropriate vetting process."

But Narducci blistered the Elorza budget for heavily favoring the most affluent neighborhoods, "Why would they want to support a budget on the tax end of things that only helped 1% of people? Has he forgotten that he said he’d be fair to each and every one of us — not just a portion?"

"It makes me sick when listen to hear about 'Finance didn’t have open meetings' — there were no closed deals behind the doors on the third floor. Maybe on the 2nd floor, but not on the third floor. Shame on the Administration for trying to cut the city into two pieces. You want to fight over a salary of someone making $165,000? I’ve got people in my ward who are lucky to make $28-$30K a year. And these salaries? [These people] are not even from here," added Narducci.

Anthony complained, "I rise to speak in opposition to the budget. Is a result of a flawed process — the committee didn’t engage in an open and transparent process."

"The committee never discussed proposed changes to the tax structure — or budget cuts.  We had no opportunity to review the changes in committee — the budget wasn’t balanced or based on sound budgetary practices. Once councilman was negotiating in bad faith," said Anthony.

The FY 2020 budget includes a tax levy ordinance that brings back a homestead exemption (in addition to other exemptions like senior, widow, veteran, etc.).

The levy is a flat tax rate of $24.56/per thousand along with a homestead exemption of 40%. Below is the formula to find your proposed tax rate:

(Assessed Property Value – 40%) x $24.56 ÷1,000 = FY2020 Property Tax Bill

The FY 2020 budget will provide the actuarially required contribution to the City’s pension fund; will include funding for quality of life services, increases funding for the Providence School Department, and ensures that the City will meet all of its financial obligations and maintain its bond ratings.
 

“I am very proud of the work the Council’s Committee on Finance has done on this budget and their thoughtful approach to helping protect our most vulnerable homeowners,” said  City Council President Sabina Matos (Ward 15) in a statement after the budget passed.

Vice-Chairwoman of the Committee on Finance and Council Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan (Ward 5) said after the meeting, “The City Council Leadership team has worked very hard to mitigate the adverse effects of the property revaluation that occurred earlier this year, and I am proud to have been part of the solution. I want to thank the hardworking members of the Council’s Committee on Finance and the Council’s finance team for helping craft a budget that is fiscally responsible, ensures the city is meeting its financial obligations, and provides for services that are important to a vibrant and culturally diverse city like Providence.”
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Changes to Council Finance Budget

Finance Chair John Igliozzi spoke to the amendments on the floor approved at the Council meeting Wednesday.

"We’re making a pension payment earlier for a savings of $800,000 in interest payments," said Igliozzi -- and spoke to some of the restorations made. 

"We funded the Assistant Engineer in DPW. We heard a compelling argument — we need this particularly engineer for traffic signals [and] it’s very important to the functioning of the city," said Igliozzi, who noted in the budget that garnered first passage on Wednesday including funding for a  Deputy Assistant Chief in the Fire Department — and the Fire Chief.

"We [also] added $225,000 to Arts, Tourism, and Culture," said Igliozzi. 

In the end, nearly all of the Council’s cuts were left in place and Elorza was forced to accept the cuts to his spending plan.

Elorza tried to put his best spin on the final budget, issuing a statement, “After weeks of tough negotiations we reached a budget proposal that invests in our neighborhoods and moves Providence forward. The budget that the Providence City Council voted on tonight maintains critical service supports and reflects sound budgeting practices that ensure our city is on sound financial footing in the future. After the amendments, this budget provides direct investments in our summer employment and programming and increases our commitment to our schools at a critical moment in our community. I am pleased that after conversations we were able to reach a plan that supports our people first."

The budget now goes to a second vote for approval. 

According to the Providence City Council, the budget includes:

Revenue Increases

$55,000.00 in additional dumpster fees
$250,000.00 in additional overnight parking permitting fees
$200,000.00 in Providence Place Mall PILOT payment

Total: $505,000.00

Spending Increases

$82,500.00 for Chief Financial Officer (Mayor’s Office)
$532,617.00 to make 10 temporary Assistant Recreation Directors permanent positions 
 $35,772.00 for an additional clerk in the Municipal Court
$3,705.00 for maintenance contracts in the City Clerk Departments

Total: $654,594.00

Spending Decreases

$25,000.00 removed for non-contractual pay increases in the Law Department
$82,500.00 was transferred to the Mayor’s office in support of the chief financial officer position, so the funds were removed from the Finance Department
$17,258.00 removed for the non-contractual pay increases for the city collector, deputy city collector, and assistant city collector
$5,250.00 removed the non-contractual pay increase to the deputy assessor
$171,586.00 removed the non-contractual increases to union and non-union members in the IT Department
$400,000.00 removed funding for nine police officers that could not be hired due to lack of a Police Academy in FY2020
$101,467.00 removed salary of director and new workforce development associate (both vacant)
$291,000.00 decrease in seasonal salaries as a result of hiring one full-time recreation center director
$8,200.00 removed the non-contractual increase to the director in the Human Relations Commission
$2,758.00 removed the non-contractual pay increase for the deputy director in Arts Culture and Tourism
$29,530.00 removed non-contractual increases in salaries in the City Council
$50,847.00 removed salary of the stenographic reporter (vacant)
$16,835.00 funded only 9-months of auditor school 

Salary Review Commission Decreases

$20,016.00 removed due to not being approved by the Salary Review Commission (Finance Director)
$39,284.00 removed due to not being approved by the Salary Review Commission (Commissioner of Public Safety)

Operational and Technical Decreases

$200,000.00 removed from the police department for a training facility, and travel/training expenses
$100,000.00 removed from the fire department for training academy (not planned)
$225,000.00 was removed to keep advertisements, rentals, and contractual services level funded for the Arts Culture and Tourism department.
$75,000.00 was removed to keep level funding for consultants in the Planning Department (last year the City only spent $65K or $200K on consultants)
$160,000.00 was removed to keep building repairs level funded in the Public Property Department
$17,500.00 was removed to keep training and miscellaneous materials level funded in the City Council
$60,000.00 decreased in miscellaneous expenses in the City Archives
$94,500.00 transferred expenses for five Speed Alert Radar Messages to the master lease
$80,016.00 transferred expenses for FATS Simulator to the master lease
$84,489.00 will be removed due to payroll tax associated with the salary decreases

Total: -$2,358,036.00

This story was first published 7/3/19 5:17 PM