RI gov backs cost-cutting steps for local government after report on fiscally stressed towns

RI gov calls for local cost-cutting reforms

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Don Carcieri urged lawmakers Friday to adopt a package of cost-cutting measures for cities and towns after receiving a report that outlined the financial strains on local government as the state’s economy tanks.

The Republican governor said the report is further evidence that lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated General Assembly must pass his budget package that includes measures meant to trim costs for local governments. It would force municipal employees to pay more for their health insurance, end a requirement that schools hire bus monitors and cut pension benefits, among other steps.

“You need to have the ability to get out and manage the pieces that are driving the cost,” Carcieri told members of a task force he formed to evaluate budget pressures on local government. “Hopefully, we’ll get that message through.”

Lawmakers have not yet voted on his plan, and they rejected similar measures last year.

Carcieri ordered the report after he and lawmakers agreed last year to trim state aid for cities and towns to help close ballooning budget deficits. A lingering recession that began to be felt in the state in late 2006 has left unemployment hovering near 13 percent and resulted in big drops in state tax collections.

The results have been equally bad for local governments experiencing big drops in property tax collections caused by a plummeting housing market. Pawtucket was under the worst financial pressure as it faces looming shortfalls in its pension system for city workers, a heavy reliance on dwindling state aid and limits on its ability to raise more money from property taxes, according to the report.

North Providence, which was running a deficit before the recession intensified, had the second-worst score, followed by Central Falls.

Some of the financial data used to compile the rankings is two years old, and panel members said more recent figures would probably show a more alarming picture.

The town manager for West Warwick, James Thomas, told Carcieri that balancing the budget was difficult last year, but this year “is becoming a nightmare.”