Town Budget

This may not be a good year to propose a tax increase. WW voted their budget down last night. See article from the KC Times:


WW residents vote down budgets

Tuesday, 19 May 2009
HANNAH CLARKIN
hclarkin@ricentral.com


WEST WARWICK — Taxpayers defeated the municipal budget, school budget, and voted down any tax levy with a resounding majority at the Town Financial Meeting last night.
Of the 416 voters counted by the West Warwick Board of Canvassers in a ballot vote, 333 voted against the municipal budget presented by the town council at $30,512,700, a majority in a standing vote defeated the school department budget of $49,269,685, and all but three people voted down a motion to keep the tax levy the same as it was last year.With nearly three times the attendance of last year’s financial town meeting, the meeting began at 7 p.m. and did not let out until 10:45 p.m. In his opening remarks Council President David Gosselin appealed to the taxpayers of West Warwick for help by supporting the budget. “We are in the perfect storm and this is a wave we need to get through and a wave we will overcome you’re your support tonight,” he said.But multiple residents criticized the council and the school committee for coming to them with a budget that included a 4.75 percent increase in a time of economic difficulty. More than one resident warned the council that an increase in taxes would push them into foreclosure on their home.

Seniors and other residents of fixed incomes voiced the same concerns. A comment from resident Alan Johnson drew applause and cheers from the audience when he told town leadership that they would never have better attendance at their meetings until they started running the town differently. “Until you learn how to handle department heads, pensions, and health insurance, they’re not going to come to your meetings because they don’t believe that they can make a difference,” he said. Although School Committee Chairwoman Lindagay Palazzo introduced the school budget for Fiscal Year 2010 as a victory of recent history, coming in at $3,645,140 less than the allocation the schools requested last year, the residents voted it down. The resolution regarding the tax levy was originally worded to allow for a 4.75 increase in the tax levy, but when he presented it, Councilman Peter Calci set the figure at the fiscal year 2009 tax levy, in an effort to prevent any increase in taxes. It was voted down in spite of this adjustment.Even if the levy stayed at the 2009 level, Beattie said, there would still be an increase in taxes because the state has changed motor vehicle taxes and money is apportioned differently in the town this year.

By voting down the budgets for 2010, Council President David Gosselin said at the end of the meeting, the taxpayers chose a municipal and a school budget that are higher than the ones proposed for this year. The $2.2 million increase in the fiscal year 2010 budget, Gosselin said, was to close the gap left by losses in state aid and other local revenues and by the new settlement payments for the Station Fire, the actual budgets presented by the schools and the municipal government represented a decrease in operating expenses. Leaving the Town Financial Meeting, residents expressed confusion about what would happen next.Even as tax assessor, Beattie wasn’t sure, he said. “Both the budget and the tax levy have not been voted down for at least the last thirty years,” he said on his way out of the meeting. “I have no idea what comes next. As far as I know we’re not even authorized to send out tax bills.”

The Home Rule Charter does speak to this situation, according to Town Solicitor Gregory S. Inman, who provided legal counsel during the meeting. In Section 504, “Failure to complete the budget,” the council is direct that “in the event that the budget shall not have received final approval by the start of the fiscal year, the departments, officials and agencies of the town shall have the authority to continue making expenditures at the rates authorized in the budget of the previous fiscal year until such a time as a new budget shall have been approved,” the charter reads.

Unlike many municipalities, Inman said, West Warwick is not required to take any further action. They may continue to operate until the fiscal year 2009 budget if they see fit. They do have the option, he added, under the West Warwick Special Acts Code, to call an all-day referendum to vote on an amended budget that is lower than the amount proposed that was voted down, or to call another Financial Town Meeting and try for any amount by presenting warrants. “But there is no time frame,” Inman said. “Nothing bars them from [continuing with last year’s amount.]”

The voters did look favorably upon two of the five warrants read at the Town Financial Meeting. They voted to allow the town to pay bills that come in after the fiscal year is over, as long as they were for items that fell within the fiscal year 2009 budget. They also voted to allow the school department to spend any federal or state funding that they are awarded over the next fiscal year.