Cranston Needs to Request a State Appointed Budget Commission — Cheryl Ursillo

Cranston Needs to Request a State Appointed Budget Commission — Cheryl Ursillo

Revenue and spending. Simple concepts until spending exceeds income. Then, there’s nothing simple about it. Case in point, the current Cranston deficit. It’s reported to be somewhere between $6.5 million and almost $10 million; a big number, and wrestling with it will be anything but simple. It’s both painful and overwhelming, and Cranston taxpayers are about to experience that pain.

 

Broad descriptors like, ‘shortfalls’ and ‘cost overruns’ do little to identify what went wrong with any degree of specificity. Unfortunately, it’s in the details where causative factors are revealed. So, while in the opinion of some, getting in the weeds may be a place to avoid, it’s often exactly where one needs to delve in order to tackle complex problems.

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And opting for the more expedient solution, by passing along the deficit to taxpayers without thoroughly examining the path that got us here with a fresh set of eyes, may not be a plan to embrace either. As with most things in life, Cranston isn’t the first nor the only community to grapple with a fiscal deficit. It needs to look no further than East Providence, Woonsocket, and Central Falls to find an effective, sustainable solution: a state-appointed Budget Commission.

 

Between 2010 and 2013, I served as Interim Director of Pupil Personnel Services, first in East Providence and, later, in Woonsocket. It was then, under the leadership of Governor Lincoln Chafee, along with Rosemary Booth Gallogly, Director of the Department of Revenue at the time, that Rhode Island assumed control over the finances of those communities. Each city carried its own massive multi-million dollar deficit.

 

While in those communities, I had the privilege of participating in the work of the EP and Woonsocket Budget Committees. Each was comprised of a 3-member panel of individuals who brought their own unique set of experiences and expertise to bear that was both diverse and deep. With a sustained commitment and non-partisan laser focus, they set about to turn things around and, in each case, turn them around they did.

 

City-wide revenue was examined, budgets scrutinized, invoices paid only upon approval by the Commission and departmental projected spending was meticulously reviewed, line by line. And all of it was done in weekly public meetings during normal business hours, where full transparency was on display. It was a necessary and effective process.

 

After 15 months of arduous work, once financial stability was restored, the EP Commission concluded its work and began to transition control of the city back to the officials who were elected to run it. As Governor Chaffee said in a 3/28/2013 press release, “The economic success of the State of Rhode Island as a whole depends upon the fiscal health of our cities and towns.”

 

Indeed.

 

It would be incumbent upon the Cranston City Council to request that a Budget Commission be empaneled to restore the fiscal health of this vibrant city.

 

It’s not too late.