PRUDENCE ISLAND — The board of the Prudence Island Water District intends to implement a property tax when it passes its budget for the next fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

In a press release sent out Tuesday, the District states it’s had the authority to tax real property within the District since its creation through legislative action in 2004. However, the District has never implemented this authority and instead relied exclusively on collection of semi-annual water service fees to pay for all operating expenses, capital expenses and debt service, according to the press release.

The decision to implement the tax came “after research, discussion of options and careful consideration over the past year,” the District stated.

During the past year, the District has reviewed its taxing authority and the need for additional debt service as part of a long-term plan to continue improving not only its water quality and upgrading its infrastructure, but to also increase potential capacity for new customers, according to the District. The plan will also address temporary interruptions in the availability of one or more wells, and improve the accessibility and quantity of water available for firefighting within the District.

This comprehensive Facilities Improvement Plan, which the District says will take several years to fully implement, was developed through funding provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

According to the board, these projects will equally benefit not only its water customers but also property owners within the District that are not currently purchasing water service from the District. “The board feels that it is unfair to place the full financial burden of these system improvements solely on current water users when they benefit all property owners within the District,” states the press release. “Therefore, the District intends to move to a budget that is based on funding operations with a combination of water service fees and debt service through a District wide tax on real property. This funding structure is common practice in water districts throughout the State of Rhode Island.”

Having reviewed the budgetary practices of other water districts, the board says it intends to fund only its debt service through the property tax and continue to cover all other expenses through collection of water service fees.

Two workshops

The board has scheduled two public informational workshops to present the change to property owners within the District. They will be held from 1-2 p.m. on Saturday, July 1, at PIA Hall, 620 Narragansett Ave.; and from 1-2 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, at Union Church, 3 Pier Road. Both locations are on Prudence Island.

The board will also include a public comment item on its agenda for its monthly meeting July 15, followed by an agenda item to either reaffirm the board's decision to change its budgetary policy or schedule an August meeting to reach a final decision.

Full implementation of the budgetary decision and setting of the tax rate will occur when the board adopts its budget for fiscal year 2018 (Oct. 1, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2018) at its Sept. 16 meeting.