City Stiffed for $1M in Police Costs
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The City of Providence is owed more than a $1 million in back payments for police details by more than one hundred local and state organizations—including some of the area’s biggest businesses, controversial nightclubs, respectable charities, and even a few government agencies, based on data obtained by GoLocalProv.
Nearly $1 million is more than 30 days late, but, because police detail payments technically should be paid in advance, a total of $1,364,608 is past due, ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. Many of the payments are more than four months past due and a number of them date back several years—as far as the early 2000s.
Now, city officials are planning a major crackdown to ensure everyone pays up, saying that the city cannot afford such delinquency at a time when it is facing a major financial crisis.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNew ordinance would cut off city services after 60 days
“The city’s financial difficulties are so extreme that we have to scour every opportunity and this happens to be a way—where the people owe us the money anyways,” said Councilman Sam Zurier. “We should be obtaining compliance from these people before we go to the taxpayers.”
Zurier is the co-sponsor of an ordinance introduced by Councilman Michael Correia that would impose stiff penalties for businesses and other groups that are more than 60 days behind in payments. The ordinance would bar them from getting any permits, licenses, license renewals, and additional police or fire details until the balance is paid in full—and has been certified as paid by the City Controller.
At a time when the city is facing widespread layoffs and deep cuts in city services, Correia said it simply can’t afford to allow more than $1 million in back payments to remain outstanding. “It could mean less layoffs. It could mean possibly less property taxes,” Correia said. “It could mean a lot of things.”
Topping the list is National Grid, with a total of $290,371 owed to the city—of which, $182,135 is more than 30 days past due, according to city records. “That’s amazing. If you owe the gas company $190 on an outstanding gas bill, they’re going to terminate services,” Correia told GoLocalProv. “So I’m here to terminate services on money that is due—that are past payments to the City of Providence.”
A number of construction businesses also made the list, along with the Providence Place Mall, which has owed nearly $8,000 for more than 30 days.
Night clubs, colleges make the list
Mayor Angel Taveras is throwing his weight behind effort to step up compliance. “Policies around police detail have been inconsistent, and fees irregularly collected,” said spokesman David Ortiz. “The administration supports putting in place a straightforward and responsible policy that provides appropriate police detail for many different kinds of organizations, events and activities.”
Some of the biggest delinquent payers include well-known nightclubs in the city, such as Club Ultra, The Roxy, McFadden’s, and Dave and Buster’s. One strip club, the Cadillac Lounge—which has been at the center of an FBI corruption investigation—is also on the list, owing a total of $2,776.
Correia told GoLocalProv he was shocked that to see so many night clubs on the list—given the headaches they cause for police trying to manage boisterous and unruly crowds on weekends. He was also surprised to see some local colleges and universities on the list, including Brown University, RISD, Providence College, and Rhode Island College. “These are people that are not even paying the city taxes yet they owe us money for police details,” Correia said.
The list of police detail deadbeats even includes some government agencies. In fact, near the top of the list is Providence’s own Public Works Department—although since it’s a city department the back payments do not actually mean lost money for the city. But there are other outside agencies behind as well, including DCYF and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.
Some of the best known and well-respected charitable organizations in the area are also in arrears by tens of thousands of dollars, including the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation and WaterFire.
National Grid responds to report
A spokesman for National Grid yesterday said the company has been keeping up with its payments. “We’re paid through the month of April and we pay monthly. The bills are being processed,” said spokesman David Graves. “It’s a bookkeeping issue. It’s not a case of disagreeing with these bills.”
However, he was not able to provide an explanation in time for publication as to why the company is 120 days or more overdue with about $46,000 in bills, including a $30,000 payment dating back to November 2010.
Steven Wright, an attorney for the Ultra nightclub, offered a similar explanation. He said the club pays roughly $100,000 a year in police details. That comes out to roughly $2,000 a week for a detail of four officers each on Friday and Saturday nights—something that the Board of Licenses requires for venues like Ultra as a condition of their license. Like National Grid, Wright said the club has been keeping up with payments.
As for Rhode Island College, a spokeswoman yesterday told GoLocalProv that the college’s records showed that it was up-to-date on its payments to the city, other than bills for a concert and commencement events in May and June. A preliminary review of the college’s records didn’t turn up any record of bills for $1,823 that the city says Rhode Island College has owed for more than 120 days, according to spokeswoman Jane Fusco.
If you valued this article, please LIKE GoLocalProv.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.
Related Articles
- Councilmen: Don’t Fill Three Providence Police Vacancies
- Providence Police Face Massive Layoffs—City Council Reacts
- Costantino Wants More Police on Neighborhood Streets
- Police Union President: Layoffs Will Make City Less Safe
- UPDATED Providence Police Overtime Costs Near $5M
- ACLU Sues Providence Police over Free Speech Violation
- NEW: Providence City Councilman Calls for Chief of Police to Go Before Layoffs
- BREAKING: Providence Plans to Lay Off 60 to 80 Police
- NEW: Providence Police Commended by State Ultra Lounge After Armed Robbery
- BREAKING: Pare Says Police Layoffs are Going Forward
- NEW: Providence Police Layoffs Start
- Police Chief: Providence Was Doing Well, Then Recession Hit
- BREAKING: Taveras—City Will Start Laying off Police This Week
- Providence Police Offer $6M Alternative to Layoffs
