With COVID-19 upending budgets everywhere, Tiverton could face up to $2.2 million in lost revenue this fiscal year, should they not receive guaranteed monies from the state for the Tiverton Casino Hotel, interim town administrator Christopher Cotta reported from an April 22 summary during the council’s virtual meeting Monday night.

Mr. Cotta said that Tiverton has been grappling with expenses that were “never, ever anticipated” before the onset of the disease back in March. With gambling put to a halt, non-essential businesses forced to close and the ability to withhold income tax payments now until July, he said there was continued uncertainty over what “share” municipalities would ultimately receive from the state, with no guidance likely coming for at least another month.

Mr. Cotta said Tiverton had found itself in an “unique situation” with the casino’s shutdown, resulting in $1.8 million of lost revenue. One of the biggest questions that remained was whether the state would honor its guaranteed annual $3.1 million of casino revenue for the town, all of which had been budgeted into its FY20 general fund. Yet after reaching out to the Rhode Island Division of Municipal Finance earlier that day, Mr. Cotta told councilors Monday night that they were still without any answers.

“I think we have a very good argument that (the guarantee) should still stand,” Mr. Cotta said.

To councilor Nancy Driggs, it was unclear why there would not already be a “contractual, legal obligation” for the state to pay them that remaining revenue; if they didn’t, she said it might give them standing to delay closure on the landfill, as financing the new recycling center would become impossible. But as councilor John Edwards pointed out, the deal was based on state law, not a contract, and cautioned the council on making “threats” to their delegation.

“This is a state law that they can turn around and change tomorrow if the legislature so chooses,” Mr. Edwards said.

There was more than just the direct casino revenue to be concerned about, added Ms. Hilton – there were all the other pieces that came along with it:  the meal and beverage taxes, hotel taxes, and police and fire detail, currently short $80,000.

“It’s not just the casino revenue itself, it’s the insularly revenue that was coming with it as well,” she said.

Though there were some significant concerns surrounding the casino revenue, Mr. Cotta encouraged the council not to “panic.” In addition to expecting $500,000 to come in from medical rescue billings, Mr. Cotta said that he could fairly quickly “come up with a good half million dollars” in savings to help shorten the gap. As of that day, town treasurer Denise Saurette added that Tiverton had received $95,000 in motor vehicle phaseout money, and that their tax collection rates to date were a “successful” 96 percent.

“We’ve only got a 1.5 million remaining on the levy to collect from now until the end of June,” Ms. Saurette said.

In the meantime, Mr. Cotta said they would keep track of their costs “appropriately,” and ordered a stop in discretionary spending across the departments. 

“We will try to work this thing through so we don’t wind up in the red,” he said.