Providence Mayor, Council Square Off on Raises in Budget
Thursday, August 05, 2010
The Providence City Council finance chairman is accusing Mayor David Cicilline of giving out generous raises and creating new jobs at a time when the city is facing a budget deficit and just raised property taxes. The Mayor’s office denies any raises and says the number of new jobs is exaggerated.
Cicilline’s proposed budget for 2011 includes raises of about 2 percent to nearly 15 percent for 31 senior managers and other city staff and 23 new positions, according to data provided to GoLocalProv by Internal City Auditor James Lombardi, who is appointed by the city council.
John Igliozzi, chairman of the finance committee for the city council, denounced the raises and new positions as inappropriate and irresponsible. “Everybody else in the state and the country is decreasing their workforce, cutting pay, doing furloughs and here is this Mayor putting forth job increases and pay raises,” Igliozzi said. “It’s just another example of how irresponsible they are financially.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCicilline Says There Are No Raises
Cicilline’s administration flat-out denies the charge.
“The Mayor is absolutely not proposing wage increases for anyone; in fact, there has been a wage freeze in place for some time,” said Karen Watts, a spokeswoman for Cicilline. “The compensation ordinance submitted on April 30 simply proposes an adjustment in the salary ranges for police and fire management personnel across both departments for the future. Not now, the future.”
But the data compiled by Lombardi shows clear increases in the salary ranges for 2011. For example, one police major on Lombardi’s list earned $101,674 in 2010. In 2011, his salary could range from a low of $110,385 to as much as $116,455, an increase of $14,781 or 14.54 percent, according to Lombardi.
Of the 31 staff due for raises, 15 of them are firefighter union positions whose pay is being raised according to an arbitration agreement and the two new contracts Cicilline has negotiated with the union, according to Richard Kerbel, Director of Administration for Cicilline.
As a result of the arbitration order and the two contracts, those 15 union firefighters will all be receiving 9.29 percent raises in the 2011 budget Cicilline has proposed, according to Lombardi.
Number of New Jobs Disputed
The Mayor’s office also claimed that the number of new jobs was exaggerated. Of the 23 new positions Lombardi said Cicilline wanted to create, at least eight are funded through grants. Nine of the new positions are actually just changes in titles for existing positions, according to Kerbel.
“These title changes reflect the merger of the Parks and Recreation Department, some changes for consistency and different responsibilities in the Planning Department and one change reflecting new responsibilities in the Inspections and Standards Department,” Kerbel said.
He said one new position in the Parks Department and one in the Finance Department reflected the “needs of the organization.”
Both the city council and Cicilline also disagree on the magnitude of the deficit the city is facing in 2011. Kerbel says the city has a gap of $29 million, due to a loss in state funding, but Igliozzi said the deficit was actually $41 million. The total budget proposed for 2011 is $639 million, a 3 percent increase over the $617.9 million budget the city had for 2010.
Last week, the council approved a hike in the city property tax rates, ensuring it will receive 3 percent more in revenue. But the council did not tackle the appropriations side of the budget. During August, Igliozzi said he would be working with Lombardi to find cuts in the budget. “We’re in the process right now of taking out the red pen and cutting his budget proposal,” Igliozzi said.
But at this early juncture he was certain of two things that would be cut—the raises and new positions. “Those pay raises and the jobs won’t be in the next budget,” he said.
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