Taveras Budget: Without State Action, City Won’t Survive
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Providence Mayor Angel Taveras is counting on the General Assembly to pass a slate of new laws in order to help the city “survive” its fiscal hurricane.
Those new laws are necessary for a total of at least $18 million in new savings and revenues, Taveras said. They range from new rules on fire hydrants to overhauling how the city pays for retiree health care—and passage of the laws certainly is not guaranteed at this point.
The proposed laws include the following:
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST■ Retiree health care: Providence needs legislation to allow it to shift eligible retirees from city health insurance to Medicare. Estimated savings: $11.4 million.
■ Fees on hydrants and alarms: New state legislation would enable the city to collect fees for its fire hydrants and fire alarm boxes.
■ Help from Chafee program: Taveras is hoping to get funding from the new Municipal Accountability Stability Transparency Fund Governor Lincoln Chafee has proposed creating. The fund provides state aid to those communities that properly fund their pension plans. Estimated revenue: $4.6 million.
■ Taxing nonprofits: Taveras said the city would “fiercely advocate” for a new law that would allow the city to impose a 25 percent tax on local colleges, universities, and hospitals. Estimated revenue: $24 million.
“Let me speak directly to members of the Assembly. If these bills do not pass, this city will not survive this fiscal hurricane,” Taveras said.
He added: “As I stated during my Inaugural Address, ‘From Westerly to Woonsocket, from Burrillville to Bristol, we are all in this together. We all have an interest in our capital city – the beating heart of our state.’”
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