Which Cities And Towns Get The Most State Aid?
Monday, September 26, 2011
The state will offer cities and towns more than $660 million in aid during the 2012 fiscal year, with nearly one-third of the money going to the capital city, according to the Department of Municipal Finance.
Providence will receive $29,896,870 in municipal aid and another $174,391,396 in education aid for a total of $204,288,266 over the next year. The total amount of state aid going to Providence is more than the next four cities and towns on the list (Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Central Falls and Cranston) combined.
Twenty-four communities will receive less than $10 million from the state and 13 will receive less than $5 million. The bottom five on the list includes East Greenwich, Narragansett, Jamestown, Little Compton and New Shoreham.
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In total, the state will spend $663,002,519 in municipal aid in 2012. But many cities and towns are still trying to recover from cuts experienced during Governor Don Carcieri’s time in office. During his second term, more than $195 million in aid was cut from communities, including Providence, which saw its aid slashed by $50 million over the last two years.
In his first budget proposal, Governor Lincoln Chafee, a former Mayor of Warwick, proposed increasing state aid by $25 million for distressed communities and through a Municipal Accountability, Stability, and Transparency (MAST) program.
“Our cities and towns are facing ever-increasing challenges to maintain retirement and retiree health care benefits, especially in the form of significant cost drivers for municipal budgets,” Chafee said in March“ These costs and the reality of unfunded pension and OPEB liabilities either have or will threaten to jeopardize the fiscal stability of municipalities and we cannot standby without acting.”
The General Assembly ultimately did not include the proposals in its final budget, but it also did not make significant cuts to communities.
Providence/Cranston Benefit From State Budget
The state’s 2012 budget did, however, raise the amount some tax exempts are expected to pay in lieu of taxes. In addition, by fully funding the state’s school funding formula, many cities and towns saw increased aid in education. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras praised the General Assembly for passing a budget that helped his city.
“I commend the General Assembly for recognizing Rhode Island’s need for a strong, stable Capital City, and for delivering Providence the support it requires during this difficult time,” Taveras said. “Providence is closer to emerging from its Category 5 financial hurricane because of the commitment of the General Assembly leadership, the Governor, the City’s legislative delegation and all lawmakers at the General Assembly.”
House Majority Leader Nicholas Mattiello (Cranston) said he hoped the additional recourses would help reduce the pressure on his city’s budget.
“I fought very hard as part of the leadership team to increase PILOT aid,” added Leader Mattiello. “I know that PILOT is very important to Cranston to compensate our community for hosting state facilities such as the Pastore Complex. I made certain that Cranston was more appropriately funded than in the budget that was submitted by the Governor. Cranston can really utilize this additional money.”
Funding Formula Helps
The education funding formula, adopted in 2010, has also helped provide additional aid to some cities and towns.
The formula provides a core amount for each student statewide, with an adjustment to help close the achievement gap between wealthy and poor students. That figure was multiplied by the number of students in each district, and then the total was adjusted by a factor that reflects the community’s ability to support its schools through its property tax base and its poverty concentration.
For the town of Barrington, which receives slightly less than $2.6 million in total aid from the state, the funding formula provided a huge boost, according to State Representative Joy Hearn.
“I have lobbied for a fair and permanent education formula throughout my tenure in the General Assembly and I’m thrilled that residents of Barrington will finally have a formula that they can count on,” Hearn said earlier this year. “As a member of the House Finance Committee, I worked tirelessly to ensure that our state budget for the 2012 fiscal year included full education funding for Barrington. This formula recognizes changes in student population and finally addresses the inequity in funding that has affected our town for many years. I would like to thank my colleagues on the Finance Committee for taking into consideration the needs of Barrington students.”
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