UPDATED: Special Budget Hearing on Monday night

Tax increase proposed by Budget Commission despite HUGE excess surplus

By Will Collette

24 18 cent per $1000 tax hike even though we are running 
a huge surplus? Thank you, CCA!

UPDATE: hardly anyone showed up at tonight's budget hearing which took a total of 20 minutes.

Town Council boss Tom Gentz reported that the Chariho school district plans to go to voters for a second time, this time with no increase over FY2013 - a total reduction of $623,000.  Voters rejected the first Chariho budget.

This will save Charlestown $178,243, presuming voters approve the revised Chariho budget on May 14.

Next Monday, May 13, the Council will vote on the final version they will send to Charlestown voters on June 3. 

Gentz said he will propose reducing the town budget by $167,510 to reflect the savings (and some offsets) and that will reduce the proposed tax hike from 24 cents per $1000 to 18 cents.

Former Council member Gregg Avedisian challenged the proposed tax hike and the Budget Commission's choice to spend excess surplus funds on capital costs rather than tax relief to the many financial beleaguered residents. See detail below.

Council member Dan Slattery (CCA) argued that because the Budget Commission are hard working and because Charlestown has a low tax rate, we should raise taxes (even though we don't really need to). Slattery noted some cuts to town services and staff - but did not address Avedisian's point about the town's purely voluntary decision to spend surplus funds on capital projects rather than tax relief.



Charlestown will hold the obligatory budget hearing on Monday night, May 6 at 7 PM at Town Hall which is supposed to be presided over by Town Moderator Henry Walsh.

The Town Budget Commission has already rolled out its FY2014 budget which will include a proposal that property taxes go up by 24 cents per $1000 of valuation despite running a surplus that is $4 million more than the amount recommended by the town’s financial advisors.

Rather than forego a tax hike – or give a tax rebate to residents for excess taxes paid, or bank the surplus to use to end the unpopular Whalerock industrial wind turbine project by buying the land as open space – the Budget Commission has other ideas.

Instead of these other uses for the excess surplus, the Budget Commission wants to pay $900,000 cash to repave Klondike Road (rather than bond it) and to pay off the bonds that built the Charlestown Police Station before they are due.

The plan to raise taxes even though we have a huge surplus is the brainchild of CCA Party Town Councilor Dan Slattery and his beloved Budget Commission.

As Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz told the Town Council, there would be no need for the tax hike if the Town doesn’t pay cash for the Klondike Road project; that $900,000 alone would allow for a balanced budget without the 24 cent/$1000 tax hike.

The purpose of Monday’s meeting is to take public comments prior to the Council’s final vote to send the budget to town voters on June 3 in the annual Financial Referendum. There will be no votes taken at the May 6 hearing.

I’ll glad the town runs well and that we have run such a nice, big surplus, although a surplus that big means that taxes were pegged too high in Fiscal 2013. However, I think it is a bad idea to add to Charlestown homeowners’ tax burden at this time, given that Charlestown’s unemployment rate is much higher than Rhode Island’s average.

The new numbers show that Charlestown’s unemployment rate is 10.7% for March. Those numbers also show that 100 Charlestown residents dropped out of the workforce between February and March. The added $84 a year in taxes a homeowner with a house assessed at $350,000 would means a lot if you're struggling in this economy, though the Charlestown Citizens Alliance Council majority may not understand that.

The budget numbers below are those that are published on Clerkbase for the upcoming meeting. They provide very little detail – for that, you need to go to the actual budget, or read my previous coverage. 

Note that the dollar figures are department budgets, not individual salaries. Again, if you want to see individual salaries, you will need to look at the entire budget.

Another consideration not included in this year’s budget proposal is the fact that voters rejected the Chariho School District budget. Charlestown voters approved it, but the voters of Richmond and Hopkinton didn’t. 

The school district will have to re-work the budget and presumably lower it enough to appease the anti-Chariho tax hawks which means that all three towns will end up paying less for Chariho in Fiscal 2014. Chariho represents more than 50% of Charlestown’s budget, so if the levy for Chariho is lowered (and isn’t reflected in the final tax rate), we’ll end up over-paying taxes again.

Here’s the budget as advertised: 

2013-2014 Tentative Budget

as adopted by the Town Council on April 08, 2013

Account	Department/Commission		As Recommended
410	Town Council	$	24,450
420	Town Administrator		168,579
430	Election Unit		10,000
440	Treasurer		180,682
450	Tax Assessor		146,312
455	GIS		75,396
460	Tax Collector		107,124
470	Public Records		196,853
480	Town Planner		117,958
490	Central Service		240,200
510	Police Department		2,320,291
520	Building Inspector		166,063
530	Emergency Management		57,255
540	Animal Control		84,907
560	Public Assistance		13,100
570	Municipal Court		6,800
610	Public Works Administration		137,544
620	Highways and Roads		1,015,760
630	Building and Grounds		308,201
640	CRCC Mandated Monitoring		12,000
660	Public Works Wastewater Management		103,670
720	Outside Agencies		19,500
730	Local Agencies		381,550
740	Boards and Commissions		25,100
800	Senior Citizen/Community Center		120,146
810	Recreation Administration		140,345
815	Recreation Programs		102,840
820	Charlestown Beach		91,350
830	Ninigret Park		31,682
850	Blue Shutters Beach		77,600
900	Debt Service		3,558,942
920	Employee Benefits		1,934,300
940	Professional Services		340,600
950	Town Insurance		190,000
960	Council Contingency		15,000
990	Capital Improvements		397,436
995	Transfers Out		1,782,500
TOTAL MUNICIPAL BUDGET		$	14,702,075
TOTAL CHARIHO BUDGET		$	14,863,600
GRAND TOTAL MUNICIPAL AND SCHOOLS EXPENDITURES		$	29,525,675