Council Trims More from Budget, Lowers Tax Rate

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

April 2nd 2025

RICHMOND – At a special session Tuesday before the regular council meeting, members trimmed another $27,000 from the proposed budget. The spending plan will be presented for public comment at two hearings, on April 9 and May 6.

At the conclusion of the final special session, the council chose a budget option which will both lower the tax rate and set aside funds for infrastructure repairs.

Providing additional information to councilors on possible reductions were Police Chief Elwood Johnson and Department of Public Works Director, Gary Robar.

Reached Wednesday, council President Samantha Wilcox said,

“Chief Johnson worked with us to reduce a few of his department’s line items while maintaining safety in the community. The animal control officer expenses were reduced by about $1,000, legal [services] for the police contract negotiations were reduced by about $6,000 total, police overtime reduced by $15,000, dispatcher reduced by $10,000. If we don’t have enough dispatchers, officers step in which increases their overtime line [item].”

The budget option approved by the council will lower the mill rate from $14.67 to $14.51, while leaving some funds for road work.

“We made a decision on what to do with the reductions we made between the last [March 26] workshop and last night’s [workshop],” Wilcox said Wednesday. “Some reductions are being reallocated to investing in our community services [grant writer, parks and recreation] and invest in our infrastructure [roads].

Council member Dan Madnick suggested the council print out a chart for the public hearing, illustrating the options for budget reductions, which now total about $200,000.

“And on top of that,” Madnick added, “we added a grant writer position and consolidated health service and recreation.”

The unassigned fund balance, or surplus, has been reduced from 17.7% to 16.7%. A final budget total was not yet available at the time of this writing.

The Regular Council Meeting

The council postponed a decision on a bid by Automatic Temperature Controls for $54,627.00 for furnaces at the Department of Public Works. The approval was requested by Town Administrator Karen Pinch, who was not present at the meeting.

Madnick had asked for a breakdown of the costs in the bid, but Robar said he had not received any additional documents.

“I would prefer that we at least let Gary take a look at this breakdown before we make a decision, because I would prefer to have his input,” Madnick said.

Wilcox suggested the item be discussed at the next council meeting.

Private School Transportation

Council Vice President Mark Reynolds asked the council to support a resolution of the Exeter-West Greenwich School District School Committee, regarding the state’s requirement that public school districts provide transportation to private schools.

“That is budgeted next year at Chariho at $833,000, and so, the resolution that Exeter-West Greenwich adopted, and I would ask this council to consider, is urging the General Assembly to amend that statute to require that private schools share in the cost of transportation of students their schools,” he said. “I don’t think it needs to be an all-one or the other, but I think it’s fair that they are getting a benefit from that transportation and should have to share in the cost of that transportation.”

The second part of the resolution involves school districts having to use the statewide system for transporting students attending schools, including private schools, outside the district.

“There is a current bill pending in the house which would amend state law to allow Chariho and other school districts to use their own transportation contractor to provide out of district transportation,” Reynolds said.

With Dinsmore opposed, the council voted to support the two-part resolution.

Dinsmore also opposed a resolution, drafted by Wilcox, opposing a bill in the Rhode Island Senate to phase out the 1% food and beverage tax by 2029.

Wilcox said that in 2023, the revenue collected by Richmond from the tax was $185,771.

“It’s one of the few taxes that the state collects that the cities and towns get the benefit of,” Reynolds said.

Dinsmore said he supported the bill because it would help businesses.

The council, with Dinsmore opposed, voted to support the resolution opposing the bill.

Comprehensive Plan Summary

Town Planner Talia Jalette presented a 38-page summary of the town’s Comprehensive Community Plan, the state-mandated document, approved in 2022, that guides development in the town.

Reynolds asked whether Jalette could describe the priorities she would ask the council to address. Jalette said she believed the Affordable Housing Committee should expand and meet more frequently.

“Affordable housing is a very hot topic in the state of Rhode Island and it’s something that’s very important to the community itself,” she said.

Madnick asked Jalette about her priorities for the town.

Jalette said she had enjoyed the exercise of creating the summary and noted that there were still certain things that had not been done.

“We should not be alarmed by the fact that there are items, short term items, because doing any kind of meaningful municipal work takes time, and it takes effort and it takes a lot of different people coming together and saying ‘yes, we’re going to do this’ or ‘no, we’re not going to do this,’” she said.

Jalette said she supported the creation of additional affordable housing, which is currently at 3.5%, not even half the state-mandated 10%.

The council asked Jalette to return with a list of her priorities, which she will present at the May 20 meeting.