Setting The Agenda: What Next For The Capital City
Saturday, July 30, 2011
This time last year, Mayor Angel Taveras was in full-fledged campaign mode. He spent the summer talking to city residents about job creation, building a world class school system and improving city services. And while he was it, he would make Providence a little greener, a little safer and a little more transparent in the governing process, he promised.
And then reality set in.
A category five fiscal hurricane. Nearly blindsided by a $110 million structural deficit, all the talk of growth and prosperity suddenly morphed into cutbacks and concessions, tax hikes and sacrifice. But the city weathered the initial storm, passing a budget that put it back on the path to firm financial footing.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSo what’s next? Where will Providence be when the Mayor celebrates his first full year in office? GoLocalProv has the breakdown of the potential plan moving forward over the next six months.
Pensions & Schools
Asked during his budget signing two weeks ago about what his next area of focus would be, Mayor Taveras immediately responded, “pensions.”
Pension reform will be a featured discussion throughout the fall as the General Assembly heads into a special session specifically dedicated to the issue and municipalities across the state continue to search for ways to better fund their systems.
If Taveras’ first goal was achieving savings from union agreements, his next could be to ask for givebacks from retirees. During his campaign, he said pension reform would be a top priority. “We have an accrued liability of $1.2 billion,” his campaign website said. “We are 70% unfunded - one of the lowest funded pension plans in the entire country. We must rethink our retirement plan for future employees and find ways to reduce healthcare expenses for all retirees. City workers also need to make concessions on cost-driving expenses.”
If pensions need a quick fix, the city’s school system needs long term solutions. Taveras focused much of his campaign rhetoric on the importance of improving schools and now he’s starting to get the pieces to come together. He has a Superintendent in place for at least a year, an education advisor working out of City Hall and he appears to be taking control (or bypassing) the School Board.
With a new teachers contract expected to come next week, the Mayor will likely take the first steps toward reforming the school system, an issue he didn’t take likely on the campaign trail. “When it comes to ensuring the highest educational achievement for our students, failure is not an option,” he said continuously last summer.
Fiscal Restraint Is Key
While he hopes to work on issues that directly impact his constituents, Council President Michael Solomon stressed that the city needs to make sure it continues on a path of fiscal responsibility. The Councilman has seen promises of restraint before turn into a fiscal crisis.
“Even with the unanimous passage of the FY 2012 spending plan, there is still much work to be done when it comes to managing the city’s finances,” he said. “Now, more than ever, Department directions need to exercise fiscal restraint to ensure we live within our budget. The City Council plans to dutifully fulfill their oversight role to protect tax payers by holding city departments to their budgets.”
Solomon said pension reform is something the city must work toward.
“The Council also plans to undertake other serious issues plaguing our city’s fiancés and residents’ quality of life. We are arranging a menu of options for pension reform, which will be considered shortly with the hop of building a more sustainable pension system that is fair to the tax payers in Providence,” he said. “Personally I will remain committed to serving my constituents in Ward 5 and helping to build a stronger, safer city. All these issues must be handled steadfastly, because it really is the summation of these things that will make Providence great.”
Former Mayor: Pension Reform/I-195/Potholes
Former Mayor Joe Paolino agreed that a top priority for the city still needs to be the finances. He said the Mayor has difficult decisions to make on the pension issues.
“The Mayor has to review how existing pensions are distributed,” Paolino said. “It might not be popular but he has to be looking at that because the Mayor is going to be the one protecting those pensions.”
But Paolino said the Mayor should be sure to focus his sights beyond the city’s fiscal problems. He praised the Mayor for helping to fill some of the vacant office buildings downtown and said Taveras should make sure to build a strong partnership with Governor Chafee on the I-195 project. He also pointed out that the Mayor has three major decisions to make within city leadership: He has to fill Chief positions in the Police and Fire departments and appoint a long term superintendent of schools.
And Paolino made sure to advise Taveras not to forget the quality of life issues in the city.
“I would love to see a plan to tackle the major potholes in the city,” he said. “He’s done the best job of any Mayor in the last nine-and-a-half years at attacking the snow. I would love to see the same attention paid to the potholes.”
East Side Councilman: Budget and Pensions
For Councilman Sam Zurier, the focus will be on completing the budget process and working on pension reform. A member of the Council Finance Committee, Zurier said he hopes to personally work on disability pensions.
Zurier said he is working on the City Council’s Revenue Study Commission, which will likely release a report in October. He said he is also focusing on a problem in the schools that involved children being released early each week. He said he would like to prevent that from happening in the future.
But he said finishing the budget will be a top priority.
“For the next few months, I expect we are going to have to finish the budget (outstanding union contracts, colleges and universities) and monitor performance against budget,” he wrote in an e-mail to GoLocalProv.
More Pension Talk
Councilman David Salvatore said he is working on a neighborhood improvement plan for his constituents in Ward 14 that will involve many stakeholders who will play key roles in a project surrounding Corliss Park. He said he hopes to create more affordable housing and spurring economic development in his community.
But he too realizes financial reform will continue to remain the talk of the day.
“I think it’s important to recognize that even though we passed the budget we still have to responsibly manage it over the remainder of the fiscal year,” he said. “In addition to this, I am also eager to work on other issues of financial reform, like our pension system which includes moving forward with the disability audit. I think together with the Administration we have demonstrated a willingness to make tough decisions and tackle the biggest of challenges facing our city. It is critical that we continue to have a united front to ensure that retirees and taxpayers are treated fairly. “
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