EAST PROVIDENCE — Things got a little heated and, in sports parlance, chippy during a public hearing held by the Council Tuesday night, October 10, on the city's proposed Fiscal Year 2023-24 operational budget.

At first, the Council took the perfunctory action of "tabling" Mayor Bob DaSilva's draft proposal so as to formally make changes to the operating outline.

In the end, after some alterations, the Council approved an appropriation of $218,914,964 to run the city and schools over the next fiscal calendar beginning on November 1.

The body trimmed $311,647 from the mayor's initial $219-plus million submission with the intention to either cut the FY23-23 levy by half a percent ($500,000) or to provide the School Department with more funds.

When the former didn't pan out and there wasn't enough support for the latter, the Council, at the suggestion of DaSilva, reallocated those savings back into the budget, earmarking it all into a line item to pay down the debt service on the construction projects at Martin Middle School and Waddington Elementary School.

Much of the build-up to the substantive conversation Tuesday was centered on something that didn't happen: the potential elimination of the mayor's chief of staff/director of administration position held by Napolean Gonsalves. Ultimately, the Council did not take up the matter, leaving the role and the $111,469 compensation package in place.

In an opening statement on the status of his chief of staff as well as proposed cuts to the Capital budget, the mayor said, "I implore you to reconsider a lot of changes that you made," adding, "Quite frankly some of the changes are disturbing" and "would set us back."

Following comments made by several members of the administration and a couple of residents on his behalf, Gonsalves, who worked with DaSilva previously when both were Pawtucket police officers, addressed his situation.

He called the Council's choice to possibly eliminate his position a "knee jerk decision," adding later he was "not a politician...I'm a truther...I speak plainly and to the point."

He concluded by saying the potential elimination of his role "smells of 'old school' politics," and that the Council seemed to be "setting up him (the mayor) for failure, which means failure for the City of East Providence."

Ward 4 Council Rick Lawson was the first of the members to respond, saying the proposed changes were not meant to be taken personally. He referenced the switches in Capital spending, saying he and his colleagues were supporting schools, pointing to the need to replace a boiler at Myron Francis Elementary.

Ward 1 Councilor Frank Rego, who was the sponsor of the Gonsalves' line item removal, echoed Lawson's remarks, saying none of the decisions were personal, but financial.

On the topic of Capital reallocations, Ward 2 Councilor Anna Sousa said what the Council was attempting to do with the changes was assist the School Department.

"A lot of the things we're doing here is to better the city, better departments," Sousa said, adding about the budget process as a whole it was the Council that set the how much was available, but it was up to the administration to use the monies as it saw fit to operate the city on a daily basis.

At-Large member and Council President Bob Rodericks, as he has throughout the budget season, broke with the majority of his colleagues to say he was basically against the amendments they had made. His most significant observation was that many of the cuts proposed by his colleagues were not mentioned throughout the process, only at the final meeting the week prior.

During the actual discussion of the Council amendments, the body eventually made only a small amount of changes to the mayor's draft submission.

The reallocated of note was earmarking $150,328 for additional full-time dispatchers in the Public Safety Communications division from the department's overtime budget. And reductions of consequence saw the trimming of $327,347 from the Solicitor's Department for "miscellaneous" spending and "outside services."

The Council also reversed an operations decision it indicated it would take the week prior at a workshop. The body decided against removing a position from the Planning Department for $114,446 (salary and benefits).

On the Capital side, the Council initially proposed reallocating $307,000 from city expenditures to the School Department, with $28,000 left to spare. The body then once again redirected funds, this time back to the city side an earmark of $90,000 for the purchase of a plow truck while rescinding the same amount previously set aside for schools for a front-loading truck and a mail courier van. In addition, the Council added back $25,000 for an equipment trailer for DPW, leaving $3,000 unencumbered.

The body also formally approved Capital allocations for the following school projects: Riverside Middle School cafeteria/gym divider, $35,000; Francis Elementary HVAC, $130,000; and Orlo Elementary Playground Fence, $52,000.

One carry-over cut from the workshops that did pass was removing entirely a $750,000 expenditure from Police detail salaries. That money is part of the bid figure submitted by contractors hired to complete projects .

A final public hearing on the FY23-24 budget is set for Tuesday night, Oct. 17, at 6:30 in the Council chamber at City Hall.

Per City Charter, the mayor has 10 days to veto the budget following official approval.  The Council can then override said veto with a "super majority" 4-1 vote of the members.