Council Scrutinizes Proposed Budget

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

March 27th 2025

RICHMOND – At the first Town Council budget workshop, on Wednesday evening, members went through the proposed spending plan, one page at a time. The process took nearly five hours.

The workshop addressed the municipal budget, which does not include the town’s contribution to the Chariho School District. (The school district has requested $22,395,744, and the town is expected to receive state aid in the amount of $6,378,048, resulting in a net increase of 1.6%.)

The proposed municipal budget, before probable reductions, is $8,194,989, a 3.76% increase over the current year.

It should be noted that the current mill rate of $14.67 will remain the same in the new budget, and property taxes, a perennial hot button issue in the town, will not increase.

No Public Comment

Town Council President Samantha Wilcox began the meeting with the announcement that there would be no public comment until the public budget hearings, on April 9 and May 6.

“As always, the public is welcome at open meetings to observe their elected officials, however, this not a public hearing,” she said. “It’s important that we are given the opportunity to do the job we were elected to do and prepare a budget for the public hearing [s] and referendum.”

Wilcox’s announcement drew a loud objection from  Chariho School Committee Chair and Richmond resident Louise Dinsmore, who was in the council chambers.

Dinsmore later posted on social media:

“Town Council President Sam Wilcox refuses to take public comment on the proposed FY26 budget. It’s egregious when 15 people were there to offer their input. Public comment has been taken in the past. We the People have the right to be heard at every meeting.”

Contacted Thursday, Town Council member Dan Madnick said the public would be welcome to comment on the budget at the two upcoming public hearings.

“The workshop was the first of two workshops with two public hearings yet to come, where the public is invited to provide constructive input. … With that said, public input is important to all of us, but we had a lot to get through and it was equally as important that we had a chance to actually go through the budget without interruption.”

The Financial Picture

Even with the end of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, the town appears to be in a sound fiscal position.

Council members discussed several line items in which the department in question had not spent the budgeted amount.

In the Department of Public Works, Madnick proposed reducing the road salt and sand budget by $25,000, but other councilors said it was too risky, because the town could experience a snowy winter.

Councilor Jeffrey Dinsmore suggested that the $100,000 budget could be reduced.

“That might be a little high,” he said.

Councilors agreed to ask Department of Public Works Director Gary Robar to attend their next workshop.

Council Vice President Mark Reynolds said he supported the proposal, included in the budget, that any funds not spent on snow removal could be allocated toward tree removals, an ongoing issue in the town after thousands of trees were killed during spongy moth infestations.

“That’s something we clearly need, so let’s keep that and allocated any unspent funds toward tree maintenance,” he said.

Some funds, including $200,000 that had been allocated to the Heritage Trail but  not needed there, will be redirected to the capital improvement plan for road work. The town will leave $45,000 for the trail.

 “We shifted those funds to the capital improvement plan for the roads, so we can start to save for our roads,” Wilcox said. “A lot of road projects cost a half a million dollars, so, we have to save and use bond leverage in the future, not this year, but some day.”

To offset a property tax increase, the council reduced the surplus, or unassigned fund balance, from 17.7% to 16.7%, which represents two months of reserve.

“We’re still at the recommended amount, so we’re not going below the recommended amount,” Wilcox said.

The council also approved a plan to reorganize the recreation and human services departments. Human Services Director Kate Schimmel will now oversee recreation and senior services. The town’s annual summer camp will be managed by the Recreation Director.

“Human Services overlaps with the rec department quite frequently,” Wilcox said. “A lot of the events they do kind of overlap, so the idea was to have our Human Services Director kind of overarch the senior department.”

Litigation Cost Overruns

Finance Director Danielle Andrews told council members that the amount spent on legal representation has increased substantially, resulting in budget overages.  The major contributing factors are the appeals filed by The Preserve, which has contested its property tax assessments every year since 2020.

Represented in the Preserve matter by attorney James Marusak, the town has spent $80,147.44 since July 1, 2024.

Asked by councilor Jim Palmisciano to explain the main driver of the overages, Town Solicitor Christopher Zangari said,

“It’s the tax appeal cases,” he said. “There’s currently – it’s over 70, and again, that’s outside counsel, and they’ve taken more time and resources because it’s in the discovery phase, and that is time-consuming. The document production on that has been, from my understanding, pretty intensive, and it’s still ongoing, and then, we also had two mediations, preparation for that, under the outside counsel, Mr. Marusak, so, his actual attendance at those items, at those events.”

Future Budget Workshops

The next budget workshop, on April 1, will last just one hour, because the council meeting starts immediately after.

Both Wilcox and Madnick said they were pleased that the council had managed to fully consider the budget and collaborate on finding ways to reduce spending.

“I’m very happy with how it went,” Wilcox said. “We had constructive conversations, positive conversations, it was a great meeting. Everyone felt really good at the end.”

Madnick said,

“I find it hard to believe anyone went through that budget like we did. If there is one thing about this council, it’s that we have been doing the job we were elected to do. That requires time, patience, and a lot of discussion.”

The next budget workshop is at 5 p.m. on April 1. The Town Council meeting will follow at 6 p.m.

The public hearings, in which residents will be invited to comment and ask questions, will be on April 9 and May 6.

The budget referendum will take place on June 3.