Portsmouth Town Council starts poring over budget

Provisionally OKs spending plans for schools, police, fire, DPW

By Jim McGaw
Posted 4/25/18

PORTSMOUTH — The Town Council began deliberations Tuesday night on the town manager’s proposed $68.25 million budget for fiscal 2019 that calls for a tax rate increase of 3.59 …

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Portsmouth Town Council starts poring over budget

Provisionally OKs spending plans for schools, police, fire, DPW

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — The Town Council began deliberations Tuesday night on the town manager’s proposed $68.25 million budget for fiscal 2019 that calls for a tax rate increase of 3.59 percent.

The council granted provisional approval to proposed spending plans for the schools; fire, police and public works departments; the Prudence Island transfer station; and the town’s total revenue line item.

By voting for a provisional approval, the council still reserves the right to make changes to any line items in the budget before it is formally adopted in late June.

The School Department budget was the big-ticket item discussed Tuesday. About 60 percent of taxpayers’ dollars go to fund public education here.

Town Administrator Richard Rainer Jr.’s proposed budget includes the full town appropriation requested by the School Department: $32,846,238. That represents a 2.49 percent increase over the amount currently paid by taxpayers for schools: $32,048,768.

The requested school appropriation was actually higher when the School Committee adopted the school budget in March, but the district has since found more than $140,000 in savings on anticipated health care premiums, Mr. Rainer said.

The total proposed school operating budget for fiscal 2019 is $38,783,579, a 1.8 percent increase over the current budget of $38,093,534.

The school district anticipates losing more than $370,000 in state aid this year.

The council voted 6-1 to provisionally approve both the revenue line item and town appropriation for the schools, with council member Elizabeth Pedro opposed.

“I say the same thing every year,” Ms Pedro said after the meeting. “They always have a surplus and I don’t think it’s right for us to be giving them more money than they need.”

In recent years, school administrators have said they’ve requested modest budget increases and that surpluses have developed due to unforeseen circumstances and sound fiscal management. The district has used some of that money toward needed building improvements such as new boilers, and will use another $600,000 in surplus funds for additional capital improvements next year.

School Committee members John Wojichowski and Allen Shers told the council the district’s school buildings are still not meeting the standards set by the R.I. Department of Education.

“We’re holding it together as best we can,” said Mr. Shers, who expressed concern that the facilities could be too expensive to maintain later on if more significant investments weren't made now.

Road paving concerns

Similar concerns were raised about proposed funding for the Department of Public Works’ road improvement program, for which only $600,000 is being set aside next year. The program received $1 million in funding for fiscal years 2015 and 2016, then $750,000 in 2017 and $800,000 currently.

“This is a program you have considerable citizen support for,” said Larry Fitzmorris of the taxpayer group Portsmouth Concerned Citizens. “If we get behind on this … and don’t maintain these roads, the cost of catching up is immense.”

Mr. Rainer replied that spending the amount he proposed next year would lower the town’s road surface rating only slightly. “It was never presented as a million dollars (annually) forever,” the administrator said. “I’ll harp on the fact that we have a hump we have to get over.”

Concerns over tax rate

Mr. Fitzmorris called the proposed 3.59 percent tax rate increase excessive and dangerously close to the state-mandated 4 percent cap on such increases.

“Our costs are increasing faster than the rate of inflation,” said Mr. Fitzmorris, noting that the town’s tax levy has increased steadily over the past several years. “This needs to be pared back. The tax rate is too high and the trend is alarming.”

Council President Keith Hamilton acknowledged significant budgetary challenges for next fiscal year, including folding the Prudence Island transfer station operations into the general fund, losing significant state aid and paying down the debt owed on the new police station.

“This is a bad year,” said Mr. Hamilton, adding he expects future budget increases to be lower after next year. 

The remaining departments as well as debt service and capital expenses will be reviewed Wednesday night. If there are any additional budget items to review, the council will meet again on Thursday, April 26.

The council will adopt a provisional budget on May 14 and hold a public hearing June 13. The budget will be formally adopted on June 25.

Portsmouth Town Council

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.