EAST PROVIDENCE — The tone of last week’s third public workshop on the proposed $185.8 million Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget held by the City Council Wednesday night, Sept. 26, was evident from the outset.

Ward 1 Councilman Bobby Britto, who was first to speak that evening, said he would not support the draft as offered up by Acting City Manager/East Providence Police Chief Chris Parella, urging the administration to trim the budget significantly to reduce spending and drop the proposed 2.9 percent tax increase considerably as well.

“For me, personally, I’d like to see an increase of .5-1 percent. I just can’t go with a 2.1 or 2.9 percent tax increase,” Mr. Britto said. “I just can’t see us proceeding in this manner at this point in time.”

At-Large member and council president Jim Briden added, “I’m of the same opinion.”

In his budget preamble, Chief Parella proposed either a 2.1 or 2.9 percent tax increase next year depending on if the council wanted to begin setting aside money to start paying for a new East Providence High School. A bond referendum on constructing the new EPHS, with an anticipated cost of $189.5 million, will be presented to the voters at the November 6 election. The opinion of the council last week was the measure would pass. The administration included an $800,000 set-aside, which represented the .8 percent difference in the proposed tax increase.

By the time the dust settled on the initial discussion, the majority of the council, including Ward 4 member Brian Faria, agreed to withdraw the new EPHS expenditure.

As well, the council, which it did at its previous workshop two weeks prior, returned to Chief Parella’s proposed $472,000 earmark for the new mayor’s office. Besides the .8 percent decrease, the only other agreed upon cut last week came from a prescribed $90,000 (salary and benefits package total) line item for a public relations position in the revamped executive department.

“I think we should tap into resources we already have rather than adding a position,” Mr. Britto said, explaining the mayor could use existing departments like IT and Planning to promote the city.

Ward 3 Councilor Joe Botelho bristled at that approach. He reiterated his previous stance on the subject, saying it would immediately hamstring the new mayor.

“I think it’s very near-sighted to cut an office’s budget and expect some sort of semblance of them fulfilling their responsibilities,” Mr. Botelho argued to no avail.

From there, the members each touched on other potential cuts. Mr. Faria spent ample time questioning and seeking to decrease the amount of spending in the Law Department, Information Technology and the Clerk’s office. The councilors also wondered if planned 2 percent salary increases for some 10 department heads at an approximate cost of $20,000 was necessary. No action on any of those items, though, was taken.

Towards the end of the workshop, Chief Parella asked the council to pause and to come to an accord on how they would like the administration to approach revising the budget draft.

“If the consensus of the council is that you will not vote for a budget if a certain percentage tax increase is included, I’ll go back and look at what I can do,” the chief said.

Chief Parella did note on average, tax increases over the last five years have been only .85 percent annually. However, during that same time frame, he said, “Every worker has got 10-12 percent raises.” He termed the methods of previous councils and managers in formulating past budgets “very fiscally conservative.”

By meeting’s end, the council coalesced around a proposed figure of 1.5 percent for the potential tax increase. Chief Parella accepted the guidance, while claiming “some deep cuts” had already been made by the administration and department heads to get to the 2.1 number.

“I think the goal should be 1.5 percent,” Mr. Briden said. “I want to emphasize we should make responsible cuts. We don’t want to jeopardize operations. We need to find the right balance.”

A public hearing on the budget, including commentary from residents, is expected to be part of the council's next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday evening, Oct. 2.

Asked after last week's workshop if he could reach the council's stated goal of cutting the tax increase to 1.5 percent, Chief Parella said, "That was the council's will, however I will come as close as possible without damaging the organizational structure of the city. I will also sit down with the school department to see if they can also share some of the burden."

Superintendent Kathryn Crowley and District Finance Director Craig Enos presented their budget proposal to the council at the September 26 workshop. The school department is seeking an additional $2.3 million in funding during FY18-19.

Chief Parella called the district's outline, a "very conservatively prepared budget." He said much of the increases are due to employee agreements and mandates from the Rhode Island Department Education.

Mr. Enos explained the increase sought was based mainly on contractual raises with the district's four unions, curriculum enhancements and improvements to facilities. Superintendent Crowley called the department's proposal a "very complete budget."