Mayor Elorza unveils budget proposal

May 1, 2019 12:47 am

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza unveiled his Fiscal Year 2020 budget proposal Tuesday evening.

“We’ve run this city with integrity and purpose, with boldness and vision,” the mayor said in his address. “What we have in Providence, is a city on the rise and a future that hasn’t been this bright in a very long time.”

The total budget is $772.6 million, up 3.1% from last year’s budget.

The youngest providence residents are taking focus in this year’s budget, with the city contributing $130 million to the public school district — up 1.5 million dollars from last year.

The city is also supporting initiatives like early childhood learning and after school programs for students.

“They will be the leaders that take our community into the future,” Elorza said during his address.

There’s even $50,000 set aside for adding washing machines inside schools, an “outside the box” attempt to address chronic absenteeism.

Money would also go toward community–building efforts like affordable housing programs, and borrowing $70 million over the next two years for infrastructure projects.

A big part of paying for the new programs is higher property tax revenue, after the city–wide property revaluation.

The mayor says that would bring in $12 million, using the legal maximum of a 4% property tax rate.

“We’re going to go through it,” said City Council Finance Chair John Igliozzi. “We’re not there yet. But the number one priority is to hopefully mitigate the financial impact, the tax impact, on homeowners in the city of Providence.”

The city is also making a $3.8 million contribution to the Rainy Day Fund, and the full $87 million contribution to the Pension Fund.

A statement from the Providence Republican Party says that pension is eating up too much of the budget and encourages the city to, “get out of the pension business entirely.”

The mayor agrees that the pension issue is a long–term concern.

“It’s kind of like global warming,” Elorza said following the speech. “We know it’s coming, it’s out there in the offing. But until it’s an immediate crisis, it’s hard to build up the urgency to get votes to worry about it and really do something about it.”

The mayor’s budget proposal now heads to city council to be vetted.

It would go into effect July 1.