E.P. Council receives FY17-18 Budget, approves new firefighters pact

Declines placing road referenda item on November Special Election ballot; Tower painting project begins

By Mike Rego
Posted 9/12/17

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence City Council continued its first meeting of the month, carrying over a relatively busy agenda from its September 5 forum to Monday night, Sept. 11, when …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


E.P. Council receives FY17-18 Budget, approves new firefighters pact

Declines placing road referenda item on November Special Election ballot; Tower painting project begins

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence City Council continued its first meeting of the month, carrying over a relatively busy agenda from its September 5 forum to Monday night, Sept. 11, when City Manager Tim Chapman unveiled his proposed Fiscal Year 2017-18 Budget to take effect the first day of November.
(Updated, corrected, Sept. 13, 8 a.m.) Mr. Chapman boasted of trimming some $5 million from the initial requests of department heads, submitting instead a total budget figure of approximately $181 million, which includes a 2.16 tax increase and some $5 million in additional expenditures over the previous year. Much of that growth in spending is related to the contract negotiations needed to be done with the unions of nine employee groups from both the city and school sides.
Included in the outlay was $1.5 million for various capital improvement projects, $550,000 intended for road repair, a subject much discussed Monday. A majority of the Council earlier in the meeting signaled it would not support a proposed $15 million bond referendum sponsored by Ward 3 representative Joe Botelho, which would have been placed on the November Special Election ballot alongside the amendments authored by the Charter Review Commission to align the document with the switch in governance to the elected-mayor form.
In addition, Mr. Chapman trimmed some $310,000 from the $1.1 million requested by the School Department, saying the $600,000 increase he earmarked and the $200,000 included in the capital improvements line item for the district was an ample escalation. In denying the School Department its full request, Mr. Chapman noted the district istill maintains a $6.4 million surplus, is getting $2.4 million in state aid this fiscal year and also the $1.48 million it gained from the previous Council during FY16-17.
Of his budget in general, Mr. Chapman said the city would be running at a bare minimum in 2017-18 and that any more reductions in spending would lead to accompanying decreases in services offered.
“I challenge anyone to find more cuts. In fact, I welcome it,” Mr. Chapman added.
Council budget workshops are scheduled to take place during meetings planned for Tuesday, Sept. 19, and Wednesday, Sept. 27. Both events begin at 6:30 p.m. Public hearings for the budget are also scheduled for regular Council forums in October on the 3rd and 17th. The last day for the Council to make changes is October 17. Per Charter, the budget must be approved no later than October 25.
Road referendum
Mr. Botelho, who previously indicated he would not support any budget that didn’t include substantial spending on road repairs, repeated his stance after Mr. Chapman’s remarks. During the referendum discussion earlier in the meeting, the Ward 3 Councilman said there were only two ways to improve city streets: via the referenda process or by curtailing spending. Mr. Botelho called the latter option of potentially initiating a hiring freeze, laying off non-essential municipal personnel and halting any wage increases “Draconian,” but a move he would attempt to make to have infrastructure repaired.
The road referendum proposal was also supported by Ward 1 Councilman Bobby Britto, who said despite likely being the most fiscally conservative member of the body, “There comes a point and time when you have to take care of your infrastructure.”
Though without a vote, Mr. Chapman supported the proposal, having worked on the plan with Public Works Director Steve Coutu and lead engineer Erik Skadberg. Messrs. Coutu and Skadberg made a presentation on the subject Monday, saying some 22 percent or 35 miles of the city’s roadways needed immediate attention. The administrators said the $15 million would likely be used in segments of $3 million per year and the allocation would have to be approved by the future mayor and council on an annual basis.
“We did not pick this number out of the sky,” Mr. Chapman said, adding previous Councils “did not raise taxes and did not fix our infrastructure.” He said the body and previous adminstrations had a “very, very sad history” of neglect when it came to addressing street repair.
The arguments of their peers and personnel did little to persuade the rest of the Council. Though rebuffed by the administrators, Ward 2 Councilor Anna Sousa continued to push a plan of returning road repair in-house by hiring new workers and purchasing necessary equipment. Messrs. Chapman, Coutu and Skadberg said it would likely be more costly to proceed in that manner.
Ward 4 Councilor Brian Faria expressed his skepticism with appropriating monies through the bond measure, saying the funds could be found through existing expenditures while also citing the need to eventually look at how the city could potentially pay for a new high school.
The last councilor to show reservations for the bond was At-Large member, Council President and ceremonial Mayor Jim Briden, who voted to move the proposal along for first approval at a previous meeting. Though offering his appreciation for the efforts of his colleagues and administrators, Mr. Briden declined to support the referendum at the moment. He said the item would likely be better included on a General Election ballot and should be considered as part of an overall long-term financial plan for the city.
Seeing his proposal would not gain the minimum 3-2 vote necessary to pass and proceed to the November election, Mr. Botelho pulled it from consideration and no vote was taken.
Firefighters contract
The Council, at the recommendation of the administration, approved a five-year contract with Local 850, IAFF, AFL-CIO, the union of the city’s firefighters.
Mr. Chapman noted the sides had been working on the framework of the deal since March. The agreement includes 2 percent salary increases over the life of the contract. Mr. Chapman explained the length of the deal is longer than most because the city remains in arrears to the firefighters’ retirement fund, contributing 57 percent instead of the state mandated 60 percent limit.
Mr. Chapman said Local 850 negotiators were “very professional and understood the city’s financial needs and budget constraints.”
State appointed Municipal Finance Advisor Paul Luba, when asked for his opinion, called the deal “in general a fair contract,” adding neither side could claim a “slam dunk.” He said the 2 percent annual pay hike was actually less than recent area municipal agreements, including a 2.35 percent increase given by Providence over a similar five-year period as well as the 2.5 percent annual uptick approved for firefighters in Warwick and Newport over three years. He said North Providence, in fact, recently signed off on a 3 percent raise while Cranston agreed to a similar 2 percent increase.
Mr. Luba added the raises included in the agreement are “actually at the lower end of the standard nowadays.
The Council approved the contract by a 4-1 vote, Mr. Botelho dissenting. He said his vote, which came after the road referenda discussion, was not a slight to the firefighters, but an expression of his belief infrastructure repairs needed to take precedent over any salary increases across the board for municipal personnel.
Car tax 'catch-up'
The Council approved a resolution proposed by Mr. Botelho, authorizing the administration to request the General Assembly allow the city a "catch-up" clause as the state motor vehicle tax is phased out over the next several years.
Tax Assessor Steve Hazard told the Council the city would seek to include reductions for FY17-18 and FY18-19 next budget season. He noted the phase out has already begun for theo other 38 cities and towns, but East Providence missed out because its fiscal year (November 1-October 31) is the only one that doest match of the state (July 1-June 30).

Tower update

During Monday’s proceedings, DPW Director Coutu told the Council restoration work on the city’s landmark water tower in Kent Heights has begun. Site preparations started earlier the same day.

The project, which came in at $1.5 million, calls for the interior and exterior repair and painting of the tower, including the application of an interlocking “E.P.” insignia similar to that used by the high school athletic teams on the outer bubble at the top of the structure. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year’s outdoor work season.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
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.