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Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
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
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
R.I. Senators float alternatives for a decades-old school takeover law
Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat, wants to radically revise the Crowley Act, which regulates school district takeovers in Rhode Island. The current law does not offer much detail on how the takeovers should operate. (Screengrab/CapitolTV) Providence's public schools may remain under state control until 2027. Three senators who represent parts of the city want to change the state law that made the takeover possible. The Crowley Act was first introduced in 1997 and lets the state education department seize control of underperforming school districts. The act's sparse instructions for state intervention — about 380 words in all — is not exactly adored by present-day lawmakers, its unpopularity concentrated in the capital city of Providence, where the school system's many stakeholders continue to lament the state's 2019 seizure of its schools. 'I am one of three councilors back in 2019 that actually testified against the takeover by the state,' said Providence City Councilor Helen Anthony at a meeting Wednesday of the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Education. 'One of the reasons that I was strongly in opposition to the takeover was because of the Crowley Act itself. It was woefully inadequate, in my opinion still is, in what it does [and] doesn't do.' Anthony was testifying in support of two bills, S0860 and S0861, by Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat who previously visited city councilors to discuss his plans to codify a better receivership model should state takeovers happen again. The bills belong to a suite of four pieces of legislation crafted during a special legislative study commission led by Zurier in 2023 and 2024 that sought new ways to structure the relationship between the many stakeholders in the Providence public school system. Zurier's tweaks to the state's framework for intervention are based on the Springfield Empowerment Zone in neighboring Massachusetts, where a school district staved off state control through a radical revision of teachers' union contracts. 'That vision, I am pleased to report, is union friendly,' Zurier said of the Springfield initiative, noting that 96% of the district's unionized teachers approved of the most recent contract. Zurier's bills would apply to Providence only, and would create a statute authorizing a third-party receiver to manage the district, rather than the state doing so directly. The state would appoint the receiver, who would be 'a nonprofit entity or an individual with a demonstrated record of success in improving low-performing schools or districts or the academic performance of disadvantaged students,' according to one of the bill texts. The receivership would be authorized for up to three years, and allow the third-party to oversee staffing and budget decisions, teacher renewals and a turnaround plan with clear metrics to determine the takeover's success. The receiver would also have some power to modify collective bargaining agreements, and Zurier's bill specifies time periods for contract and dispute arbitration. The current Crowley Act fails to specify much in its regulation of state takeovers in its two paragraphs on the process of state intervention, compared to the 10 pages of regulations in one of Zurier's bills. 'I know it's strange to be thinking about amending the Crowley Act when the city of Providence is considering returning to local control, but I think it's absolutely critical,' Anthony said, arguing that the bills have value for school districts statewide. 'Even though this is Providence specific, they will ensure future interventions are more effective, more accountable, and ideally less necessary.' Former Providence schools superintendent Susan Lusi told senators that Zurier's bills 'will create legal clarity regarding the state's authority moving forward.' One example of the Crowley Act's ambiguities: Last year's protracted legal battle between the state and Providence in which a judge agreed the city owed at least $15 million to plug up deficits in the state-controlled budget. The parties had contradictory interpretations of the city's statutory obligations for school funding under the Crowley Act. Rather than dismiss the possibility of state control, Zurier's bill is actually meant to codify a stronger form of receivership, should it happen again. 'None of this could have happened in Springfield if they weren't scared of a state takeover under the rigorous Massachusetts law,' Zurier said. 'The argument is that you need to have a structure like this in order to…incentivize people to do the right thing.' Jeremy Sencer, testifying on behalf of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, disagreed. 'We can do many of the things, if not all, of the things that they do in the Springfield Empowerment Zone,' said Sencer, who was part of Zurier's study commission. 'It is possible, but that requires building trust, and we are not going to have trust at the end of a threat. It's just not going to happen after this takeover…You cannot legislate trust.' Two other Providence Democratic senators on the education committee offered alternate visions of state takeovers. Sen. Jake Bissaillon's S922 would permit state takeovers but only for individual schools, not entire districts. Union representatives spoke in favor of this approach, which stemmed from Bissaillon's utter dissatisfaction with the state takeover. 'What grade would you give the takeover over the last six years?' Bissaillon asked Anthony when she spoke on Zurier's bill. The city councilor gave the takeover a 'C,' but when Bissaillon spoke on his bill, he graded it without a curve: 'The takeover in 2019 completely foundered…I think I would give it an F for abject failure.' Sen. Tiara Mack also offered a school-based solution, with legislation that would require Providence schools to 'form local elected school-based councils' at each of the district's public schools, according to the bill text. All four bills were held for further study, which is standard practice. The same day state senators mused on the mechanics of receivership, the collective voices of Providence public school students were compiled in a document released by OurSchoolsPVD, an assembly of youth-led activist groups that began in 2019 in response to the state takeover. The 11-page 'community needs' document details the trends and prominent concerns about the city's schools shared by students themselves at a December event,. The students' collected opinions reflected a ground-level vantage point, describing a number of more material and social issues like poor school buildings with mold and falling ceilings, subpar transportation and curriculums that don't make space for students of different backgrounds or center people of color. The report noted that 'People are not satisfied with school leadership broadly…They are frustrated by a lack of progress, transparency, accountability, and care for students.' But the biggest complaint was a general lack of support, which was mentioned 54 times by students who attended the event. 'There is overwhelming agreement that students feel unsupported in school,' the report states. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
15,000 new homes in four years? R.I. housing officials set ambitious target.
Rhode Island Department of Housing Policy Analyst Patrick Duffy, right, presents the draft Housing 2030 plan before the Special Legislative Commission to Study Housing Affordability on Feb. 13, 2025. To his left: Acting Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard. (Screencap/CapitolTV) The Rhode Island Department of Housing envisions 15,000 new homes receiving building permits within the next four years — assuming each of the state's 39 municipalities are on board. Acting Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard and department Policy Analyst Patrick Duffy presented that lofty goal in the state's draft Housing 2030 plan Thursday before the Special Legislative Commission to Study Housing Affordability. The plan is expected to be made open for public comment some time in March, Goddard said. Goddard is one of the commission's 17 members. The state in 2023 commissioned Abt Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to draw up a statewide housing plan meant to guide policy decisions and future. 'It will also help guide the use of federal funds, which of course, remains to be seen,' Goddard told the panel of lawmakers, referring to the ongoing court battles over the Trump administration's freeze on federal grants and aid. 'We remain hopeful.' The housing department's presentation notes fewer than 8,500 new homes were permitted for construction between 2019 and 2023. A lot of the state's blame still lies on local zoning ordinances that prevent higher density structures from being constructed. Roughly 20% of Rhode Island is zoned for two-family homes, according to the housing department's presentation. The housing department also wants to get more towns to allow developers to bypass local zoning under the state's Low and Moderate Income Housing Act, which limits the ability of municipalities to block projects if less than 10% of their residences qualify as affordable. Only eight communities across the state have hit or exceeded that 10% goal in the three decades the law has existed, according to the housing department's presentation. 'We're treading water,' Duffy said. So how does the state plan to get towns on board in building more homes? By meeting with municipal leaders to see what makes sense to construct in their communities. The Housing 2030 plan also calls on providing technical assistance to towns looking to create more homes. 'Having goals is one step, but actualizing on those goals and getting there is going to require action,' Duffy said. High property costs have also contributed to the state's slow construction rate. Land values skyrocketed 81% between 2012 through 2022, according to the housing department presentation. House Minority Leader Michael Chippendale, a Foster Republican, placed much of the blame on people who work in Boston, who he said bid with cash on the spot and waive all home inspections. 'Our professional children who are trying to establish themselves in Rhode Island cannot compete with that,' he said. 'There is a very real dynamic that the more we build, the more we're building for Boston.' Commissioner David Caldwell, president of the Rhode Island Builders Association, commended the state's lofty goal, but said it will all mean nothing if developers can't quickly get their necessary permits. He cited the yearlong process to open ECHO Village, the 45 one-room shelters off Victor Street in Providence that were first assembled last February and finally welcomed the first occupants on Wednesday. The state had planned to get the shelters open by last March, but were delayed partly because officials struggled to figure out how the cabins fit into the state's fire and building codes. Fire permits were ultimately approved in April 2024. A building permit was issued last June. An opening ceremony for ECHO village took place on Tuesday. 'The ECHO Village project, unique though it may be, is an example of how hard it is to get anything done in this state,' Caldwell said. 'I can keep you here from hell to breakfast with all the ways this just gets dragged out endlessly to the point where folks like me just don't bother anymore.' When he meets with developers from across the country, Caldwell said they can't believe how long it takes to get a permit. Indeed, a 2019 analysis by the Wharton Residential Land Use Regulatory Index found that the Greater Providence area was the third most heavily regulated metro area in the country for housing — just behind San Francisco and New York. The state's performance was cited at least three times during the meeting. 'That's shameful, we need to work on that collectively,' Goddard told commissioners. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill would rename Sakonnet River Bridge in honor of Tiverton soldier killed in Iraq War
Family and platoon mates of the late Staff Sgt. Christopher Potts, a Tiverton resident and Rhode Island National Guardsman killed in action in Iraq in 2004, are seen at a Feb. 6, 2025, hearing on a bill seeking to rename the Sakonnet River Bridge to honor Potts. (Screenshot/CapitolTV) More than a dozen veterans and their family members showed up at a Thursday hearing of the Rhode Island House Committee on Special Legislation to support a bill that would rename the Sakonnet River Bridge after a fallen soldier. Three supporters offered spoken testimony for bill H5051, led by Westerly Democrat Rep. Samuel Azzinaro, which would rename the bridge connecting Portsmouth and Tiverton to the Staff Sergeant Christopher Potts Sakonnet Bridge. Azzinaro, a retired National Guardsman who chairs the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the bill came to him via the House Veterans' Affairs Advisory Council. One of the supporters was retired Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Viens, who served alongside Potts, a Tiverton resident and National Guardsman killed in action in Iraq in 2004. 'We're not here to diminish the service or the sacrifice of any other service member, any of our brothers and sisters that also paid the ultimate price,' Viens, who served as Potts' platoon sergeant, told the committee. 'We're here to advocate on behalf of our soldier who we feel made the ultimate sacrifice, but in doing so, saved lives.' Potts 'died because he found something he was not supposed to find,' according to Viens. That something was a weapons cache stocked with ammo, guns, rockets, mortars, artillery rounds, IED timers and more. Iraqi insurgent groups at the time were splintered, Viens said, but the cache served as a hub for these guerilla fighters — and as a danger for U.S. soldiers who may have been traveling nearby, like Potts, who often patrolled the area. 'He found this, and they found him and they executed him,' Viens said, adding that Potts was killed alongside the platoon's medic. 'Not a firefight. Executions.' 'We think that by him finding this cache — it was the largest cache in Iraq at the time — it put a damper on the insurgents' operations against us and saved a lot of lives,' Viens continued. Potts was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat 'V' and the Purple Heart. Former President George W. Bush met with members of his family in 2007. Terri Potts, his widow, was at the committee meeting Thursday. It's not the first time lawmakers have wanted to rename the Sakonnet River Bridge. It's not even the first time lawmakers have wanted to name the bridge after Potts. When the original Sakonnet River Bridge was slated for replacement way back in 2008, the opportunity arose to give the new bridge a new name. In 2009, former Democratic Rep. Amy Rice of Portsmouth wanted to name the bridge after the town's colonial founder, Anne Hutchinson. The same year, Rep. John G. Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, rallied to have the bridge named after Potts. Edwards soon retooled the bill to call the bridge the 'Veterans' Memorial Sakonnet River Bridge,' for all the fallen soldiers of Portsmouth. Neither bill succeeded, nor did a 2011 resubmission by Edwards for the Veterans Memorial branding. The new bridge finally opened in 2012, under its old name: the Sakonnet River Bridge. Viens testified to the committee that a tribute to Potts is even more pressing, given that an existing dedication might soon be erased. A scoreboard at Pottsy Field in Middletown has sported the fallen soldier's name since 2006, but an ongoing development project supported by the town could reshape the park and surrounding land. 'They're going to build condominiums, and that scoreboard is coming down,' Viens said. 'And so there's not going to be anything left in the state that shows his sacrifice.' The scoreboard is still up for now. Matt Sheley, a spokesperson for the town of Middletown, said that Pottsy Field is still standing on West Main Road, near the town's public library. 'It's used periodically by various community groups for events like flag football games and practices,' Sheley said in an email. But change is certainly planned for the area. Sheley said that 'a trio of local developers' want to build a mixed-use 'centerpiece for the community' where the field and a number of adjacent lots currently stand. The land, which occupies 600 through 740 West Main Road, is located on a busy artery of Aquideneck Island furnished with businesses. The town signed a 99-year lease for the land with the developers last October, according to The Newport Daily News. The developers want to construct commercial and residential properties. Sheley said the developers are still going through the permit process, and appeared most recently before the town's planning board on Wednesday. 'At this point, no new construction has been permitted or happened at 600-740 West Main Road,' Sheley said. 'All of the existing uses remain 'as is' until the project secures the necessary permits and permissions.' The Pottsy Field sign can still be seen from the road. Potts himself played on the field in a men's softball league, according to a 2022 article in The Newport Daily News, when the development project was already emerging. A family member interviewed at the time said that if the field were moved to a new location because of the project, it probably wouldn't be the same since Potts hadn't played on it. The Committee on Special Legislation is tasked with proposed laws not covered by any of the House's usual specialty areas like health or education. As is standard for new legislation, the committee held Azzinaro's bill for further study. Following the public comment, Azzinaro thanked the bill's supporters for attending, and encouraged them to submit written testimony to the House. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
