Taveras to Unions: City in Dire Financial Straits
Saturday, November 06, 2010
Providence mayor-elect Angel Taveras has wasted no time in going straight to the unions for help.
Taveras met separately with the police and firefighter unions yesterday, asking them to work with him as he prepares to take office in January. Taveras specifically told police union President Taft Manzotti that the city is in “dire financial straits” and asked for help in saving the city money, according to Joe Rodio, legal counsel to the Providence Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 3.
‘Next best hope for the city’
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Taft’s willing to work with this guy because he thinks he’s the next best hope for the city and he’s relying on that until experience shows different,” said Rodio, who said he had been authorized to disclose details of the conversation. “He’s more than willing to work with Taveras in an effort to save money, provided the city is fair and reasonable.”
The two did not get down to details. Instead, Taveras, who is headed to the Dominican Republic next week for a vacation, said he would discuss specifics with Manzotti when he returns. “It’s a positive start compared to (Mayor David) Cicilline,” Rodio said. “He said he would listen to us and work with us.”
The talks come just two weeks after Internal Auditor James Lombardi released a bombshell report warning that the city was running out of money. Lombardi revealed that the city's cash reserves had plummeted from $36.6 million at the start of fiscal year 2010 to $4.6 million and claimed the city was behind on its pension payments.
Taveras ‘hit the ground running’
A spokeswoman for Taveras confirmed that the meetings had taken place at his law office in downtown Providence. She said Taveras planned on meeting with all city unions before he takes office.
“The Mayor-elect has hit the ground running this week—he is ready to get to work sourcing out solutions to the challenges that lie ahead and felt it important to meet with these key stakeholders,” said spokeswoman Arianne Lynch, who was responding to a GoLocalProv inquiry. “As he’s said before, the city is in the midst of a challenging fiscal time—as are many municipalities. The earlier the dialogue about solutions begins, the sooner the city will begin to move forward.”
Paul Doughty, president of Providence Firefighters Local 799, recounted a similar meeting with Taveras. “He’s anxious to get started and looks forward to working with us,” Doughty told GoLocalProv. “He knows that there’s going to be hard work to do and he’s eager to get started.” As with the police, he said Taveras did not specifically request anything from the firefighters.
The vice president of the union, Phillip Fiore, also attended the meeting along with John Kelly, a closer advisor to the Taveras transition team.
Police union wants hiring freeze
Neither the unions nor the mayor got into the nitty-gritty details, but Rodio said the police have made their position on saving money clear. He said the union hopes to resurrect a cost-cutting plan that never went anywhere during the Cicilline administration. Instead of cutting benefits and foregoing raises, the union wants the city to put a freeze on hiring, according to Rodio.
The city has roughly 470 officers on its force—and wants to bring that to 500. Each new officer would cost a total of $100,000 a year in wages and benefits. Holding off on new hires could save $3 million a year right off the bat, Rodio said.
The union’s proposal is spelled out in a Jan. 28, 2009 letter to Cicilline, which the union gave to Taveras during his campaign. Taveras did not specifically address the proposal yesterday. “He didn’t agree or disagree with it,” Rodio said. “He said to Taft, ‘When I get back, we’ll get down to specifics.’”
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