EAST PROVIDENCE  — Mayor Bob DaSilva, about to complete his initial term as the city’s first elected chief executive and running for a second four-year stay in office at the 2022 election, presented the City Council during a workshop of the body on August 30 with his administration’s draft Fiscal Year 2022-23 operating budget.

DaSilva anticipates the costs of running East Providence over the next 12 months starting on November 1 to be $187,372,083 or about $9.8 million more than last year, which is expected to come in at $177,570,346 by the end of the current FY21-22 on October 31.

(View the draft FY22-23 budget in its entirety at https://stories.opengov.com/eastprovidenceri/published/dJ0G0PUfe.)

Of the total, $94,169,098 comes from the school department, a budget submitted by new Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sandra Forand and representing a $2,041,960 increase in expenses from the previous fiscal year. 

DaSilva noted the district, which expected its state aid to drop as the number of its students in poverty declined, actually saw its assistance stay relatively stable. In total, schools are receiving $41,078,148 in state aid in FY22-23 or about $1 million more than anticipated.

The city’s overall debt service will rise by some $3.5 million, most of that associated with the cost of repaying its roughly $90 million share of the new East Providence High School. The debt is expected to increase from $12,043,004 to $15,624,657 in FY22-23.

Also, the mayor said he is earmarking the entire sum the city is expected to receive in speed control camera revenue, approximately $3 million to cover the aforementioned new EPHS debt.

On the city side, DaSilva acknowledging its the largest single expense of its approximately $93 million share of the overall budget, said $60,556,497.28 is earmarked for employee salaries and benefits.

In presenting the draft, DaSilva said the FY22-23 budget was “carefully crafted to continue to conduct the high level of service for our residents while at the same time keeping the fiscal impact to our taxpayers at a minimum.”

Once other anticipated revenues are included, a .67 percent increase in the overall tax levy is likely necessary to meet the remaining increase, according to the mayor. However, he said the actual tax rates for residential, commercial and tangible properties won’t be set until a revaluation is conducted by the end of the calendar year.

The .67 percent raise represents a projected $30 a year increase to each property owner at the moment.

City Finance Director Malcolm Moore told the council the tax rate for individual homeowners sits at $21.86 per $1,000 under current values and would need to increase to $22.01 to meet the necessary increases in the budget. Again, though, an actual account won’t be available until next spring.

Moore reminded the audience at the last reval in 2019, the median property value was $232,000. This time, he said it likely projects to be closer to $300,000.

It was noted previously and at the workshop the city was among a handful of municipalities granted a one-year extension to conduct the reval, which mandated by the state to be done every three years. Again, the last revaluation was conducted in 2019. The extension was allowed due to lingering aspects associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also of significance to the FY22-23 budget, but separate from operations, the enterprise revenues needed to operate the city’s water system are anticipated to rise to $24,795,107 in FY22-23 up slightly from $24,693,543. The water system/department is self-funding. It does not receive any allocations from the city’s tax coffers.

Most of the other increases, DaSilva said, were due to the “inflationary costs” the entire globe is currently suffering through as the last vestiges of the COVID-19 pandemic are overcome. The mayor said the city has seen and anticipates future rises in fees for such things as utilities and gas/diesel and supplies.

With that in mind, DaSilva said his office attempted to “level fund” most departments, seeking only “modest increases” based on those factors related to inflation.

DaSilva added of the draft as a whole, “We’re proud of this budget because it meets all of the city’s needs.”

Public Safety
The East Providence Fire and Police Departments are expected to have moderate increases, according to the mayor’s draft budget, Fire from $24,908,738 to $24,957,863 and Police from $17,029,480 to $17,065,782.

The mayor told the council he soon expects to present to it for approvals tentative agreements with both departments on new three-year contracts.

The mayor and EPFD Chief Glenn Quick said some 40 new firefighters have been hired over the last two years through two academies. And overtime expenditures are expected to decrease now that the department is fully staffed.

EPPD Chief Chris Francesconi said his department currently has 88 officers with three retirements anticipated before the end of the current fiscal year with five recruits in the mid-year academy. He projects five to six retirements in FY22-23 with five to six more recruits expected to enroll in the January 2023 academy. Francesconi said between the 2023 mid-year academy and using the method of lateral hires, bringing in officers with experience from other jurisdictions, the department will be staffed back into the mid-90s by this time next year.

Public Works
DaSilva’s budget is calling for Public Works expenditures in FY22-23 to be $13,192,921.76. That figure includes about $5.2 for the Highway subdivision, $3.2 for refuse disposal, $1.45 for Public Buildings, $988,097 for Building Inspection and $964,829 for the Central Garage.

Other projections
The other most significant expenditures for departments/line items include $3,131,725 for Capital Improvements from $2,796,905 and $2,735,782 for the Libraries.

More workshops
Further department and line item reviews will be done during two more scheduled FY22-23 budget workshops by the council on Thursday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 6:30 p.m.