November 28, 2007
Don't Forget the City and Town Budgets
Question: What is this?
35-40 - East Greenwich, Middletown, Portsmouth, Newport, Warwick, Woonsocket
37.5 - Bristol, Glocester and Jamestown
35 - Burrillville, Cranston, Cumberland, East Providence, Exeter, Foster, Little Compton, Narragansett, North Smithfield, Scituate, Smithfield, South Kingstown
34 or 32.5 - West Warwick
32.5 - Tiverton
30 - Warren
Answer: The number of hours required to qualify as a full-time, benefits-garnering town employee for the towns listed. (If your town isn't listed above, it either requires 40 hours or didn't provide the information). And who knows what other perks these employees might get.
I provide this because--while we tend to focus on the state budget--we can't forget that our municipalities also need to cut back. All of our cities and towns usually get state aid. I'm guessing there won't be that much this year and local governments better get ready.
There is more information at the RI Municipal Affairs Office. The above came from the "Collective Bargaining Agreements In Rhode Island Cities & Towns". There is also: "Health Insurance Provisions Municipal Collective Bargaining Agreements"; "Municipal Salary Survey"; and the "City & Town Council Salary and Fringe Benefits Survey." Reading these will make you laugh, cry (or maybe even relieved).
The perfect storm is coming for cities and towns. Most of them don't even realize it. They've grown used to receiving annual increases in state aid, with a few cases of level funding here and there. The next couple of years are likely to see reductions in state aid. In addition, their tax receipts, home mortgage recording fees, etc. are all going to be coming in lower. And now, fortunately, they cannot just turn to the tax rolls to bail themselves out, as they are limited and will be increasingly so in the coming years from the levy limitation. Hmmmmmm, seems a good place to start being managers and cutting costs and consolidating.......
Posted by: Jackson at November 29, 2007 7:45 AMUnfortunately the "levy limit" you mention-Paiva-Weed-is next to useless. City Council's can-and will-get "emergency" waivers. The GA can-and will-approve those "emergencies".
The only answer is Chapter 9 default where contracts are set aside. Staffing and compensation levels of teachers and municipal employees (and yes this INCLUDES police and fire) can then be addresed in a more sane way than the current kleptocracy.