Providence residents pack State House hearing to oppose bill to go above tax levy cap
Rep. Stephen Casey, a Woonsocket Democrat and chair of the House Committee on Municipal Government and Housing, gets up from his chair as the committee begins a recess before returning to hear testimony on a bill to raise Providence's tax levy cap. Some people waited over two hours to testify. (Screencap/CapitolTV)
Some people waited two hours to speak at Tuesday night's meeting of the Rhode Island House Committee on Municipal Government and Housing. Some people couldn't wait and left before they had their chance.
Rep. Stephen Casey, the Woonsocket Democrat and committee chair, shuffled the six sign-up sheets in his hands, each page filled with the names of Providence residents who wanted to testify at a hearing on a bill that would raise the the city's levy, or total collected tax revenue, above the statewide 4% cap in fiscal year 2026. The hearing room and overflow area were packed with about 100 people.
As the meeting stretched past 7 p.m., Casey opted for speed over procedure, and told people to leave the microphones on when they came up to testify.
Smiley puts faith in General Assembly in unveiling $624.1M fiscal 2026 budget
'Don't anybody touch anything. Just get up there and talk,' he said.
Providence residents had a lot to say about the bill sponsored by Rep. Rebecca Kislak, and three other Democratic reps in the city: Scott Slater, Edith Ajello and Nathan Biah. The bill's 27-word amendment to the state's municipal tax law would authorize the capital city to hike its levy on owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied residential properties, commercial properties, tangible properties, and natural growth, or the increase in value of properties over time.
Kislak's bill would allow Providence to go up to 8% more than last year. Mayor Brett Smiley is proposing a 7.5% increase, announced April 16 in his proposed fiscal 2026 budget.
The impact would hit property owners depending on the kind of home they own and if they live there. The average tax bill for owners who live in their single-family homes or condominium units would go up 4%. But the increase would be 16% for homes with two to five families, whether owner-occupied or not.
'We think that this is, in fact, an extraordinary ask,' Smiley told lawmakers. 'But it's because there are extraordinary circumstances. The last time the city of Providence was at the State House to ask for this was over 15 years ago during the 2008 financial crisis.'
The budgeting maneuver is meant to cushion city finances for fiscal year 2026 against an expensive settlement with the state education department to resolve past underfunding of Providence public schools. But compliance with that November 2024 settlement, which accounts for $11 million in the upcoming fiscal year's budget and additional investments in subsequent fiscal years, depends on state lawmakers' approval.
'There are a lot of reasons that Providence has this need to increase the levy,' Kislak said in her introduction of the bill, citing the agreement with the Rhode Island Department of Education as 'the most immediate.'
'We will be fixing…30 years of underfunding of our schools in just three years,' Kislak said. 'We should do it. It's painful, and it's so important to the city.'
Without the General Assembly's approval, Smiley has said his budget will need to return to the Providence City Council and substantial revisions made. The council is still engaged in the budgeting process with a final version emerging in June. Ahead of Kislak's April 2 introduction of the bill, the council voted to affirm up to an 8% increase.
Democratic Rep. David Morales of Providence — a 26-year-old lawmaker who's floated the idea of running for mayor himself one day — wondered why no Plan B was in place.
'Has your administration prepared an alternative budget in the case that the committee does not move forward with this levy proposal?' Morales asked Smiley.
'No, we have not,' the mayor replied.
We will be fixing…30 years of underfunding of our schools in just three years. We should do it. It's painful, and it's so important to the city.
– Rep. Rebecca Kislak, a Providence Democrat and sponsor of the bill authorizing the capital city to exceed state tax levy cap
Morales also asked Smiley if he would stay for the entirety of the hearing, 'because we have dozens of working people across the city of Providence that are here to share their perspective,' Morales said.
Smiley replied: 'I appreciate that. I'll stay as long as I can.'
In a phone interview Thursday, Morales said Smiley left before residents had their turn to testify but encountered residents outside the committee hearing room. A WPRI-12 report on Tuesday confirmed that Smiley spent time talking to residents for some time in the State House rotunda, explaining his budget in detail.
'Mayor (and also in a different spot I) stayed for hours talking to people in the hallway,' Kislak said via text message Wednesday. 'We should pass this bill plus additional revenue bills that will give the city council and mayor additional flexibility in their budget negotiations.'
Some of the additional revenue bills Kislak previously mentioned include taxes on parking lots and Airbnbs.
Josh Estrella, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement Wednesday, 'Mayor Smiley has been attending community meetings in every ward of Providence collecting feedback from neighbors and explaining the critical importance of this legislation and he was glad to have stayed at the State House last night to answer every question community members had.'
Morales was disappointed in Smiley's showing before the committee, he said. 'I think he was dismissive…He opted to talk about the complex formula as to how one's property taxes are calculated, which I think was an easy cop-out from actually answering any questions.'
Many people testifying Tuesday were addressing lawmakers for the first time, Morales said, and some spoke through Spanish interpreters. Residents worried about tax hikes being passed to renters, making apartments unaffordable and ultimately leading to displacement.
Charles Pinning, a landlord and part-time writing professor at the University of Rhode Island, explained how the levy hike would affect his tenants: 'These people who have spoken, 'Oh, yeah, when I rent the apartment, I will pass it on to them.' They're absolutely correct.'
Providence residents viewed the committee as an important blockade against the tax hike's passage, arguing that the City Council will likely approve the measure. But the House committee emphasized its role is to merely allow the levy hike to happen. The venue for resisting the hike itself, they suggested, was at City Council hearings instead.
Casey, the chair, at times told public testimonies to stay on track, and not stray into discussions of the city's housing market or general critiques of Smiley. He told one man his testimony's content was better suited to a Facebook post.
'This bill has been held for further study,' Casey said. 'Everybody needs to relax. We're not going to vote on it today.'
Fixed-income homeowners, including senior citizens, said a 25% additional property tax exemption for senior citizens under Smiley's budget was insufficient. Sandra Lee, a low-income senior citizen and 25-year resident of the Mount Hope neighborhood, said her property assessment went up 100% in the most recent valuation, and her lot 521%.
'I own a little home there, and I own a little speck of green,' Lee said. 'My right to quiet enjoyment is being threatened, and I don't know what to do. I feel completely powerless.'
The bill was held for further study, as is standard practice on an initial hearing. Based on conversations with his colleagues before and after Tuesday's hearing, Morales thinks the committee vote will not be unanimous.
Morales said Thursday he was proud of the people in his city who showed up to be heard, and hoped his fellow committee members were listening closely.
'I hope that they recognize that these stories of hardships are going to become reality if we're not conscientious about our own decisions when we vote on this,' Morales said.
At the hearing, Rep. José Batstia of Providence told fellow Democrat Smiley that he understands how the city has been wedged between a multimillion dollar rock and the hard place of a tax increase. But he said he would not support the levy hike, because he thinks the city is not doing enough to extract money from the city's wealthy nonprofits like Brown University.
Smiley, in part, agreed. Nearly half of the city's property is tax-exempt, he said, adding the city is 'burdened with a hugely disproportionate share of the tax-exempt properties in Rhode Island: the colleges, the hospitals, government, churches and certain nonprofits.'
'It is, I know, very popular, and certainly the size of their endowment makes it eye- popping. But it is not just Brown,' Smiley said.
Morales thinks the city has not explored all its options, citing industrial, waterfront properties on the city's south side. 'They can certainly afford to pay more in their taxes,' Morales said, an alternative to what he described as the overly broad taxation in Smiley's strategy, in which 'owner-occupied, multifamily homes…are going to feel the brunt of this increase.'
Meanwhile the budgeting process chugs along on the city side. In an email Thursday, Marc Boyd, a City Council spokesperson, said individual councilors have been holding community meetings over the past month with residents in their respective wards to hear concerns about 'revaluations, property taxes, the levy overall, and the budget process broadly.'
'Now that the mayor has proposed his budget, the Finance Committee will review, vet, and, if necessary, amend the mayor's proposal as part of the normal budget process which, as usual, will include public hearings, the first of which is scheduled for May 6th,' Boyd said.
Boyd added that on Saturday, May 3, several Spanish-speaking councilors will be hosting a Latino Town Hall to discuss the same issues with Spanish-speaking residents. English translation will be available, and the event runs from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Providence Career and Technical Academy on Fricker Street.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
25 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Federal vs. state power at issue in a hearing over Trump's election overhaul executive order
BOSTON — Democratic state attorneys general on Friday will seek to block President Donald Trump's proposal for a sweeping overhaul of U.S. elections in a case that tests a constitutional bedrock — the separation of powers. The top law enforcement officials from 19 states filed a federal lawsuit after the Republican president signed the executive order in March, arguing that its provisions would step on states' power to set their own election rules and that the executive branch had no such authority. In a filing supporting that argument, a bipartisan group of former secretaries of state said Trump's directive would upend the system established by the Constitution's Elections Clause, which gives states and Congress control over how elections are run. They said the order seeks to 'unilaterally coronate the President as the country's chief election policymaker and administrator.' Elon Musk's threat to withdraw Dragon capsule would leave NASA with 1 option: RussiaIf the court does not halt the order, they argued, 'the snowball of executive overreach will grow swiftly and exponentially.' Trump's election directive was part of a flurry of executive orders he has issued in the opening months of his second term, many of which have drawn swift legal challenges. It follows years of him falsely claiming that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election was due to widespread fraud and an election year in which he and other Republicans promoted the notion that large numbers of noncitizens threatened the integrity of U.S. elections. In fact, voting by noncitizens is rare and, when caught, can lead to felony charges and deportation. Trump's executive order would require voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, prohibit mail or absentee ballots from being counted if they are received after Election Day, set new rules for voting equipment and prohibit non-U.S. citizens from being able to donate in certain elections. It also would condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the strict ballot deadline. The hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston comes in one of three lawsuits filed against the executive order. One is from Oregon and Washington, where elections are conducted almost entirely by mail and ballots received after Election Day are counted as long as they are postmarked by then. The provision that would create a proof-of-citizenship requirement for federal elections already has been halted in a lawsuit filed by voting and civil rights groups and national Democratic organizations. In that case, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, the judge said the president's attempt to use a federal agency to enact a proof-of-citizenship requirement for voting usurped the power of states and Congress, which at the time was considering legislation that would do just that. That bill, called the SAVE Act, passed the U.S. House but faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Trump's executive order said its intent was to ensure 'free, fair and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion.' The Justice Department, in arguing against the motion by the attorneys general for a preliminary injunction, said the president is within his rights to direct agencies to carry out federal voting laws. The order tasks the U.S. Election Assistance Commission with updating the federal voter registration form to require people to submit documentation proving they are U.S. citizens. Similar provisions enacted previously in a handful of states have raised concerns about disenfranchising otherwise eligible voters who can't readily access those documents. That includes married women, who would need both a birth certificate and a marriage license if they had changed their last name. A state proof-of-citizenship law enacted in Kansas more than a decade ago blocked the registrations of 31,000 people later found to be eligible to vote. The two sides will argue over whether the president has the authority to direct the election commission, which was created by Congress as an independent agency after the Florida ballot debacle during the 2000 presidential election. In its filing, the Justice Department said Trump's executive order falls within his authority to direct officials 'to carry out their statutory duties,' adding that 'the only potential voters it disenfranchises are noncitizens who are ineligible to vote anyway.'
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Race heats up to replace Connolly on powerful Oversight panel
The race to become the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee is heating up — and getting crowded. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) this week threw her hat into the ring to replace the late-Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who died last month of esophageal cancer, making her the fourth member of the committee — and the second member of the Congressional Black Caucus — to vie for the seat. She joins Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who all announced their bids last week. Not only is the list unusually long for such a race, but it features two veteran septuagenarians and two congressional newcomers who are decades younger — setting the stage for another tense debate over the seniority system Democrats have favored for generations, but has come under increasing scrutiny in an era when the party's popularity is well underwater. 'It's usually two, every now and then three [candidates]. I'd have to go back a while to remember four horses trying to get out of the gate at the same time,' Mfume acknowledged. 'We've got some bright young members, some very distinguished and wise older members, and I think there's got to be a melding of those age groups and those thoughts and those priorities,' he continued. 'Because at the end of the day, we'll all either win together or we'll lose together.' At 76 years old, Mfume is the oldest candidate in the race, but not the most senior on the committee. That distinction goes to Lynch, 70, who has served as the interim ranking member since Connolly stepped back from the role in April. The elder statesmen are citing their long experience as an asset, while also vowing to tap the unique strengths of the newer members of the committee, who tend to have a better finger on the pulse of digital outreach and social media. 'I fully appreciate that the effectiveness of our Committee in presenting the truth to the American people is dependent on our ability to maximize and elevate the diversity of talent within our Democratic membership,' Lynch, a former ironworker and union leader, wrote recently to his fellow Democrats. Mfume, a former head of the NAACP, agreed, saying Democrats can't be effective without a united approach. 'It's important for the new ranking member to gather all the Democrats together on that committee, close the door and figure out what the agenda is going forward as a team,' he said. But the younger challengers see the Oversight vacancy as a rare opportunity to reimagine the Democratic brand and revive the party's image with new faces and fresh ideas. 'For me, it's about, how do we excite the base?' said Crockett, 44. 'And to be perfectly honest — while I can't put a poll in the field fast enough and get some answers — I can tell you that, tangentially, looking at the entire field, I am the type of member that potentially will inject a little bit of that energy that we're missing right now for our base. And I think that we have to take that into consideration.' Democratic leaders are well aware of the generational tensions, and are making clear their intent to stand aside and allow the process to play itself out ahead of a vote of the full caucus, which is scheduled for June 24. 'As we've said before, seniority and length of tenure is always a factor, but it is one of many factors that members consider,' Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters this week. 'Our job is to just make sure that it's done in a fair way.' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), a prominent member of the CBC, downplayed the notion that the race — which features two CBC members in Mfume and Crockett — might lead to bad blood within the group. He noted that he had defeated former Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who had once headed the CBC, for the Caucus chair position in 2018, and she remains 'a great friend and colleague.' 'Leadership, of course, remains aggressively neutral,' Jeffries added. 'We don't put our thumb on the scale.' With subpoena power and broad jurisdiction over virtually every facet of the federal government, the Oversight Committee ranks among Capitol Hill's most potent panels, making the ranking member spot a highly coveted position for ambitious lawmakers seeking a new level of national prominence. That's especially the case for the minority Democrats this year, when they're scrambling for an effective strategy to combat the norm-smashing actions of President Trump, who has used the early months of his second administration to dismantle many of the federal institutions the Democrats hold dear. Connolly, 75, in seeking the spot after last November's elections, had run into the same questions about age, image and passing the torch that are being raised now. He dismissed those concerns, citing a track-record of fierce advocacy for democratic traditions and the federal workers Trump has sought to purge. And he easily won the closed-ballot contest despite facing a formidable challenger in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), 35, an icon of the left with a huge national following. Ocasio-Cortez has since left the Oversight Committee, jumping to the powerful Energy and Commerce panel in January, and declined a bid to replace Connolly. Garcia, 47, was among the Oversight members who had waited to learn Ocasio-Cortez's intentions before announcing his own. With her out of the race, he quickly jumped in, touting his experience as the former mayor of Long Beach and his position in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He's also vowing to help the party disseminate its message more effectively with modern-age tools. 'Democrats are the party of working families — but we must meet people where they are,' he wrote in his pitch to colleagues. 'Traditional media isn't enough — to drive real policy wins, we must break through the noise, capture public attention, and energize people to act.' Crockett delivered a similar pitch, stressing the need for Democrats to highlight wins and make information accessible to voters. But she also noted the role is more than just communications. 'At the end of the day, I am a trial lawyer,' she said, noting her years as a public defender and her familiarity in 'dealing with criminals.' At the mention of the word, her mind turned to Trump. 'To be perfectly honest, there's probably only one person that the president does not want to head up Oversight, and I can tell you that it's me,' Crockett said. 'That alone should actually — hopefully — get my colleagues to say that's probably the one that we want, because I am the one that he's afraid of.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trouble signs grow for Cornyn in Texas
Sen. John Cornyn's (R-Texas) reelection campaign is facing serious warning signs as new polling shows the state's Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) widening his lead in the Republican Senate primary. A poll conducted by GOP pollster Robert Blizzard on behalf of the Educational Freedom Institute showed Cornyn trailing Paxton by 22 points among the state's Republican primary voters. The same poll shows Paxton leading among key demographics within the state's GOP primary electorate, including seniors and voters who identified as 'MAGA.' While Cornyn's campaign has dismissed the findings as biased and as 'silly season' for polling, the findings are the latest in a string of polls showing the longtime incumbent trailing his primary challenger. Texas Republicans say it's another sign that Cornyn needs to ramp up his attacks and spending ahead of February's primary. 'I think those numbers today are going to force Cornyn to go up on air and take a chunk out of Ken Paxton pretty damn soon,' one Republican strategist told The Hill. 'The question is, can he?' The senator's former campaign manager Brendan Steinhauser noted that Cornyn's team will not hold back in an effort to define Paxton early in the primary. 'I think they're going to have to spend a lot of money early to try and make their case given where we are in the polling right out of the gate,' Steinhauser said. And Cornyn's campaign has already begun going on offense against Paxton. Last week, the incumbent senator's campaign rolled out four new ads hitting Paxton over money his office gave to several Texas entities, accusing Paxton of 'funding the left.' The spots were part of a five-figure digital ad buy. Cornyn's allies point out that the primary is in February of next year, which allows ample time to close the gap with Paxton. 'The primary is in nine months,' said Matt Mackowiak, a senior adviser to Cornyn's campaign. 'This is going to be a very close race and Sen. Cornyn is fully committed to winning it.' Mackowiak cited a poll of the race released last week by Texas Southern University as 'the last credible independent poll' of the contest. While that poll showed Paxton holding a nine-point lead in the primary, it also had Cornyn leading hypothetical Democratic candidate Collin Allred by four points and Paxton leading Allred by just two, within the margin of error. Last month, a Senate Leadership Fund poll showed Cornyn trailing Paxton by 16 points. But in a hypothetical general election poll, Paxton lost by 1 point to Allred. And even Paxton allies acknowledge it's early in the race. 'Cornyn's folks are right, it is silly season for polling,' said Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who is supporting Paxton. 'But he definitely has an uphill battle.' A senior Cornyn adviser told The Hill that they didn't expect any movement in the polls until early next year. 'These races don't move much until the end,' the adviser said. 'You'd be wasting money to spend money right now. Cornyn's going to have to spend money though.' Some Republicans question whether Cornyn will be able to make that case, given the state of the conservative grassroots in Texas. The incumbent senator garnered the wrath of the grassroots in 2022 when he helped lead the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which addressed gun control and school safety, through Congress after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Cornyn was later booed at the Texas GOP convention that year, and the Collin County GOP voted to censure him. And in 2023, Cornyn said he believed Trump's 'time has passed him by' in terms of whether he could win another election. Cornyn later endorsed Trump, saying the president 'was right and I was wrong.' 'Holy cow, like how does he ever anticipate climbing back into this in the good graces of a MAGA-led GOP base with those two anchors around his neck?' the unnamed GOP strategist said. Others note that the latest polling is less about Cornyn and more about Paxton's own popularity with the base, particularly coming out of the latter's impeachment trial in the Texas state House. Paxton has been a central figure in an ongoing civil war within the Texas Republican Party. In 2023, he was acquitted in 2023 on 16 articles of impeachment amid allegations that he had used the power of his office to aid his friend. The impeachment effort partly led to a campaign by Paxton and his allies in the Lone Star State to purge the legislature of Republicans they saw as disloyal. Next year's Senate primary is seen as the latest development in that intraparty conflict. 'A lot of Republican grassroots activists and voters like what they see in terms of his leadership at the office of attorney general,' Steinhauser said. 'They see Paxton as someone who is on the right wing of the party and so a lot of the activists are excited about his candidacy.' 'If there was someone else running against Cornyn, maybe even a congressman or a state senator or someone like that, I don't think you would see those numbers,' he continued. Paxton has painted himself as a victim of the political establishment, in many ways mirroring the strategy Trump deployed in his runs for office. 'I think it's MAGA vs. DC,' Eberhart said. 'Cornyn is a gentler Republican from a past era. Paxton is a fighter and that's what Texas Republicans want.' Still, it's unclear whether Trump will endorse in the primary. The president is fond of Paxton, but has worked with Cornyn in the Senate. And even if Trump were to back Cornyn, the internal poll released earlier this week showed Paxton continuing to lead Cornyn. After voters were told to assume Trump would endorse Cornyn, Paxton would attack Cornyn for his past comments on Trump and Paxton would attack Cornyn over working with Democrats on gun safety legislation, Cornyn trailed Paxton 62 percent to 21 percent. 'I wouldn't underestimate [Cornyn],' Steinhauser said, referring to Cornyn. 'He's never lost an election yet in Texas. He still has a lot of loyal voters. I think if Trump stays out of the race, which I think he's going to do, then I think it will tighten up a bit.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
