Concerned about the long-term financial condition of the Town in lieu of its required $8 million share of a $13 million lawsuit settlement handed down last December, a group of residents (including a sitting member of the school committee) is calling for the opportunity to get a second chance at a vote on whether or not to approve up to $200 million in bond funding to build a new high school and perform repairs to schools throughout the Bristol Warren Regional School District.

“Warren needs a moment to breathe,” said Tara Thibaudeau, the current Secretary of the Bristol Warren School Committee, who has declared she won’t run for re-election in November. “They need to know what they can actually afford. You or me saying we can or can’t afford it, some of it is hearsay. We need to know the actual facts. If Warren is to continue to exist, and I want to stay here, we need all the facts.”

Thibaudeau represents a group of around 50 people who have attended two meetings so far to discuss the financial implications that the lawsuit has already had on the Town, and express their concerns that the 30-year obligation of the school bond will put Warren into a dangerous financial plight for the foreseeable future.

“If your taxes go up 4% every year over the next 30 years, the people who live in Warren, it’s going to change,” she said. “Because the people who live here now are not going to be able to afford to live here then.”

The budget for the 2025 fiscal year (which began on Monday, July 1) that was approved by the Warren Town Council, to Thibaudeau’s point, did require the Town to exceed the 4% limit imposed by state law on how much a municipality can increase the total tax levy from one year to the next. Warren required an approximate 5.3% increase over last year’s levy, which was approved by the State.

However, the blame for that increase (and accompanying deep budget cuts to Town departments required to make even that large increase less severe) should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the lawsuit, which required a $5 million lump sum payment this past fiscal year and requires three, $1 million payments over the next three fiscal years.

Warren Town Council member, Joseph DePasquale, said at a recent meeting of the School Building Committee that the Town would be able to shoulder the financial burden of the bond because the amount owed for the settlement payments will be more than, or very similar to, the eventual debt service owed by the Town each year to cover the school construction expenses — and that debt service will kick in after the last settlement payment has been made, meaning it will have already been baked into the budget.

“It’s going to be unfortunately just about the same (amount of money). But what our hurdle is, we have no more creative money, we have no more fun money,” he said. “We have the money to pay the bills with a pretty large tax increase, and it’s going to be very challenging down the road…But we are going to be able to pay this bond because we are keeping it at pretty much the same number we’re going to carry over.”

Proponents of the school bond, which includes majorities of both the Bristol and Warren Town Councils, Superintendent Ana Riley, and a majority of the Bristol Warren School Committee, have all made variations of the same argument that the process is already too far along to hit the brakes now. Projects funded by the bond are already beginning at Hugh Cole and Rockwell Schools, and engineering studies and schematic designs have already been conducted for the new high school.

Furthermore, if the district fails to meet the construction expectations set in their project submission that has already been approved by the Rhode Island Department of Education, they’ll lose out on bonuses that bring their reimbursement rate from 63% to 82% for the bond, which would wind up costing taxpayers more; even if the overall scope of the bond is reduced.

Adam McGovern, school committee Vice President, said at the same School Building Committee meeting that the School Building Committee has been prudent in reducing the scope of the overall project cost to keep in mind the tax impact that was anticipated by voters when they approved the bond last year.

“We’re taking things out so that we can meet the needs, and as the project moves along…our goal has always been to meet that commitment,” he said. “Your concern is our concern.”

Numbers to keep in mind
When voters approved up to $200 million in borrowing for the school projects last November (by a 65% margin in Warren and a 63% margin in Bristol), they did so under the notion advertised that if the district spent the full $200 million and got a $175 million reimbursement by RIDE, the district’s total responsible share of the bond to be paid would be $54,750,000, with Warren being responsible for around $800,000 of that in debt service per year over the course of the bond.

Earlier this year, when the district learned that RIDE would only reimburse up to a maximum of $157.4 million, the Building Committee went to work making alterations to the scope of the project to ensure that impact wouldn’t be significantly altered. Ultimately, the board cut down the total anticipated project cost to around $187 million total, and the current estimated share of the bond to be paid by the district is now $55,665,521, as of June 20.

“Essentially, we’re over by a little less than $1 million,” McGovern said, adding that residents will also get access to an updated tax impact calculator to see their actual projected tax increase. “What we’re responsible for financially is a half of a percent different, and none of this is final.”

Can a new vote even happen?
Thibaudeau contended, however, that residents should have another opportunity to express whether they still support the spending in light of the settlement experienced by Warren, which occurred after the bond had already been approved in November.

“People may not agree with us, but I would like to give the people who do the opportunity to at least speak up,” she said. “Once we make these decisions and enter these contracts and bonds, there is no going back. So if we are to do something, it has to be done now. Once it’s done, it’s done.”

Asked about the group’s efforts, Bristol Town Council Chairman Nathan Calouro conferred with Bristol Solicitor Mike Ursillo, who said that the only procedural recourse he could see for the group would be to lobby the school committee, who has ultimate authority on the approval of bond spending in the district.

“Once the ballot question passed, that’s it,” Calouro said. “There is no local legislative action that can happen once that is done. The recourse this group would have is to convince the school committee to lessen the scope of the project; spend less money, in essence.”