BREAKING NEWS: Taveras Outlines Budget Rescue Plan
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Providence Mayor Angel Taveras this morning outlined a sweeping plan to overhaul city finances—everything from instituting a hiring freeze to a 10 to 15 percent cut across all city budgets.
“When I took the oath of office on January 3, I made a commitment to be honest with the people of Providence about the problems we face,” Taveras said. “I also promised that I would not shy away from making tough decisions to put our City back on firm financial footing. We are making the tough decisions and taking the immediate actions needed to move Providence forward. Our citizens expect and deserve nothing less.”
His 14-point calls for the following, according to a statement from his office:
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST1. Personal pay cut Effective immediately, the Mayor is taking a 10% pay cut.
2. 10% Cut to Mayor’s Budget The Mayor will submit a FY12 budget that cuts the Mayor's office payroll by 10%.
3. Eliminate 13 non-union school positions Effective immediately, 13 non-union positions, including several school administration positions, have been eliminated – resulting in $1.7 million in savings to the City.
4. 10 to 15% across the board cuts Department Directors have been instructed to submit budgets for next year that reflect at least a 10-15% overall reduction.
5. Close 4 to 6 schools Four to six schools will be closed and a number of teacher positions will be eliminated. On Tuesday, the Mayor published a timeline for the process by which schools will be recommended for closure.
6. Hiring and non-essential spending freeze There will be an immediate review and freeze on all non-essential spending and hiring across City departments. Numerous unfilled positions will remain vacant and will be eliminated from next year’s budget. Moving forward, all hiring decisions must be approved by Director of Administration Michael D'Amico and Chief of Staff John Pagliarini.
7. Renegotiate vendor contracts There will be an immediate review and renegotiation of contracts with third-party vendors.
8. Canceled contract with benefits company The City has cancelled its contract with a benefits administration company. This contract cost the City $1.4 million last year. By bringing this service in-house we have created an annual savings of $900,000.
9. Renegotiate union contracts The City will seek to renegotiate union contracts to produce cost savings.
10. Tax-exempt colleges and hospitals The City will negotiate with tax-exempt universities and hospitals to increase support for the City
11. State aid for education The City will lobby the State to fully implement the Statewide Education Funding Formula.
12. Consolidate departments The Taveras administration will accelerate the consolidation of City departments and services. This process is underway and next year’s budget will reflect efforts to cut costs while streamlining City services and making it easier for citizens to access government.
13. Pension reform The Taveras administration will actively pursue pension reform.
14. Regionalization of services Providence will aggressively pursue short- and long-term opportunities to work with neighboring cities and towns to make regionalization of services a reality.
Open to other ideas: “The Taveras administration will work in close collaboration with the City Council, the State and the community to pursue new ideas for reducing spending,” Taveras’ office said.
