CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE

RHODE ISLAND

JOURNAL OF SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

October 23, 2013

Council Chambers, City Hall, 145 Taunton Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914

6:45 P.M. Executive Session - Room 101

7:00P.M. Open Session

 

I.                   EXECUTIVE SESSION

The City Council of the City of East Providence will meet in Executive Session pursuant to RI General Laws § 42-46-5 (a) (2)

A.    LITIGATION

Tabitha Glavin vs City of East Providence

 

II.                CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Briden calls the meeting to order at 7:40 P.M.

           

III.             SALUTE TO THE FLAG

 

IV.             PUBLIC COMMENT

 

1.       Tom Riley, Canvassing Board Chairman – Relationship between Canvassing Board, Budget and Council.

 

V.                PUBLIC HEARING ORDINANCES FINAL PASSAGE

 

1.ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE ORDERING THE ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF PROPERTY TAX ON THE RATABLE REAL ESTATE, TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY, AND AN EXCISE TAX ON REGISTERED MOTER VEHICLES AND TRAILERS.

 

THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE HEREBY ORDAINS:

 

SECTION I. That the Council of the City of the City of East Providence hereby orders the assessment and collection of a tax on ratable real estate, tangible personal property and an excise tax on registered motor vehicles and trailers in a sum not more than One Hundred Five Million Eight Hundred Seven Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy One ($105,807,971) dollars nor less than One Hundred One Million Seven Hundred Thirty Eight Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Four ($101,738,434) dollars. Said tax is for ordinary expenses, for the payment of interest and indebtedness, in whole or in part, of said city, and for other purposes authorized by law.

 

The Tax Assessor shall assess and apportion said tax on the inhabitants and ratable property of said city as of the 31st day of December, 2013 at twelve o'clock Eastern Standard Time, according to law, and shall on completion of said assessment, date and sign same and shall make out and certify to the City Treasurer of the City of East Providence, who is charged with the duties for the collection of taxes, on or before the 15th day of June, 2014 a complete list of the names of the persons taxed and of the total value of all the real estate and personal property assessed against each person, and also the amount of registered motor vehicles and trailers assessed against each person, and also the total amount assessed against each person on said real estate, personal estate and registered motor vehicles and trailers, opposite the name of the person or persons assessed. Upon receipt of the certified tax list by the City Treasurer, he shall proceed and collect said tax on the persons and estates liable thereof; said tax shall be due and payable on and between the 1st day of June 2014 and the 1st day of July, 2014 and provided further that if said tangible personal property, motor vehicle, and real estate taxes are paid in full on or before the 1st day of July, 2014, a discount of one and a half per centum (1.5%) of the total taxes on said tangible personal property, motor vehicles, and real estate shall be granted, and all taxes remaining unpaid on the 1st day of July, 2014 shall carry until collected a penalty at the rate of twelve per centum (12%) per annum from the 1st day of June, 2014 upon said unpaid tax, however, said taxes may be paid in four installments; the first installment of twenty-five per centum (25%) on or before the 1^st day of July, 2014, the second installment of twenty-five per centum (25%) on or before the 1st day of September, 2014, the third installment of twenty-five per centum (25%) on or before the 1st day of December, 2014 and the fourth installment of twenty-five per centum (25%) on or before the 1st day of March, 2015. 

 

Each installment of taxes if paid on or before the last day of each installment period successively in order shall be free from any charge of interest.

 

If the first installment or any succeeding installment of taxes is not paid by the last date of the respective unpaid balance period or periods as they occur, then the whole tax or remaining unpaid balance of the taxes as the case may be shall immediately become due and payable and carry until collected a penalty at the rate of twelve per centum, (12%) per annum.

 

The City Treasurer shall, by advertisement in the public newspaper having circulation in the City of East Providence, notify all persons assessed to pay their respective taxes at his office on and between the said 1st day of June, and the 1st day of July, 2014 both days inclusive; said City Treasurer setting forth the hours during which his office shall remain open to receive said taxes.

 

SECTION ll. That any of said taxes not paid on or before the 1st day of March, 2015 shall forthwith be collected by levy upon the sale of real estate upon which it is assessed and by that or other due process of law in case of assessment upon personal property.

 

SECTION III. This ordinance shall take effect upon its second passage and all ordinances and parts of ordinances inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

 

Requested By:  Finance Director

 

 A motion to dispense with the reading of the ordinance is made by Councilwoman Rossi, seconded by Assistant Mayor Rose and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

Director Moore comes to the podium and states this information goes on the back of the bill which taxpayers receive. It lists when payments are due and the interest rate and freezes the early pay discount at 1.5% where it was previously decreasing.

 

A motion to approve the ordinance for final passage is made by Assistant Mayor Rose, seconded by Councilman Cunha and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

 

 

VI.             PUBLIC HEARING

A.        FY 2013-2014 Budget

ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE APPROPRIATIN $166,614,251 FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 31, 2014

 

THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE HEREBY ORDAINS:

 

SECTION I. The general fund receipts for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2014 have been established to amount to $166,614,251 made up as follows:

 

 

 

SECTION II. To defray the expenses of the City of East Providence for the fiscal year commencing November 1, 2013 and ending October 31, 2014, the sum of  money, or so much thereof as are authorized by law indicated in the accompanying  schedule, are hereby appropriated for the objects and purposes, and in the amounts  expressed therein, provided that payments thereunder shall be subject to the provisions of the City Charter of the City of East Providence and also subject to the provisions of said City Charter relative to the manner and form of expenditures of money set forth in said Charter from the City Treasury.

 

SECTION III. All monies appropriated are to be expended by the various departments in the manner and form approved by the Director of Finance.

 

SECTION IV. The payment to the School Fund of the following estimated receipts, included in the appropriation of $72,858,459 for the support of the public schools for the City of East Providence fiscal year 2013-2014, shall be increased or decreased to conform with the actual amounts received from such sources during the fiscal year 2013-2014 except the appropriation of property tax.

 

 

SECTION V. The purpose of this ordinance is to adopt the Budget for the fiscal year 2013-2014 which begins November 1, 2013 and ends October 31, 2014 as prepared and submitted by the City Manager, and to implement the recommendations as set forth in the City Manager's Budget Message by the approval of said recommendations as contained herein, or by other ordinances or resolutions of the Council of the City of East Providence; all in accordance with the provisions of said Article.

 

SECTION VI. This ordinance shall take effect upon its second passage and all ordinances and parts of ordinances inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

 

1.      Tom Riley, 3620 Pawtucket Avenue (02915) – Canvassing Board Chair speaks against the cuts to the Canvassing Division eliminating the permanent part time employee. 

 

The City Manager addresses Mr. Riley’s concerns.  The Division Head was part of the internal budget hearings as is customary. They went over in detail the proposed budget.  When the first draft of the City Managers budget took place the Division Head made the justification of the part time person. The Budget Commission approval, when read in its entirety, states its approval is subject to need. The City had to look at if the position was needed and at the overall City budget. Previously the Division overspent the budget and in subsequent cuts the funds were cut to a level so that the part time position could be utilized only during the election season not the whole year.  This amounts to approximately 70 hours of time to be used during election season.

 

Mr. Riley speaks about need and the subsequent overtime fees this will cost in regular staff. Mr. Riley also noted that a few years ago the office went from a three person office to a two person office.

 

The City Manager called the Human Resource Director to the podium to discuss the desk audit which was conducted the day before in the Canvassing Office. 

 

Director Waterbury spoke and stated that Donna Sketti from HR performed the audit and indicated there is a significant amount of redundancy being done in the office. The need is valid for a part time worker only during the election season. When staff was asked why there was so much redundancy they stated this was the way things had always been done, instead of relying on the available technology and downloading they are still filing paper and creating redundancies instead of being proactive. 

 

Councilwoman Rossi asked if there is any potential to train them to be more efficient.

 

Director Waterbury stated that the technology is already there but they are just comfortable with doing it the way they always have done it.  It's just their comfort level and they also listed they do this at the Canvassing Boards request.

 

Mr. Riley stated he is more comfortable with and feels they need the paper backup in case the State system goes down.

 

Director Waterbury stated that it is a common occurrence that we are stuck in the pen and paper ways.  The State already has capabilities in use which back up this data.

 

The City Manager added if there is additional work which the Board of Canvassers wants done in addition to the duties of those required by those two employees had the Canvassing Board thought about utilizing the free help the City can get from Ebay Cap? They can provide staff for an entire summer at no cost. 

 

Mr. Riley stated that they need a lot of expertise.

 

Assistant Mayor Rose stated that every other department at City Hall has done away with temporary employees.

 

Mr. Riley stated they have less staff and that they are beyond the reach of the Council’s ability and to manipulate their budget is to hinder or destroy an election.

 

Councilwoman Rossi stated that the budget as it sits now does not afford the Council the option to put money back in.  A complete budget must be passed by the next day and there is no time left to advertise any changes.

 

Mr. Riley stated that he understood this but that he did not desire to overrun the budget deliberately.  They were originally told that by November 2^nd they could hire the part time worker and that process has not even begun.  Adding they are not the highway or parks department.  They have to run an election and they need the $9,903 dollars to do that.  It is the Canvassing Board’s responsibility that things don't go wrong, there are a lot of records and if something happens to them it will be a mess. This is a small amount of money.  We have an election in each budget due to the primary falling in one fiscal year and the election in another.

 

Mayor Briden asked if the position was added in 2014 would the summer be enough training time.

 

Mr. Riley stated that if a Council member passed away they need to be prepared to operate within days.

 

Councilwoman Rossi suggested that since nothing can be done with this budget, at this time, she recommends perhaps having the City Manager work with Mr. Riley to address this to sufficiently accommodate the office. 

 

The City Manager stated that yes within the parameters of temporary work, on a limited basis, he would work with them but the goal is not to just do what we used to do as we did remove all temporary line items from other divisions but we will work with the Canvassing Office to accommodate their needs. He added however that he would not commit to hire a person by November 1st as that need was not determined based on the desk audit. We will work with Mr. Riley and help him fill the position during the year. We will look at it again to make sure the work gets done.

 

Mr. Riley stated he does not want to wait to get near an election to train them, even mid-year is not enough time.

 

Mayor Briden suggested Mr. Riley meet with the City Manager and the Director of Human Resources to look at this further and report back to the Council.  We value your analysis and are listening to what you have to say.

 

The City Manager stated we can start looking at it next week.

 

Tony Fereirra School Committee Member thanked the Council and City Manager for not cutting the School Budget this year as had been done in the past. Adding, he really felt as though the Council studied the School Budget and listened to what the School Committee and school Department had to say. 

 

 

A motion to approve the ordinance for the FY 2013-2014 Budget is made by Councilwoman Rossi, seconded by Councilman Cunha and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

 

City Solicitor Tim Chapman reports out the Executive Session item Tabitha Glavin vs City of East Providence. 

 

A motion to accept the report is made by Assistant Mayor Rose, seconded by Councilman Cunha and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

 

The City Manager requested permission to make an announcement regarding the good news of an upgrade in the bond rating from Moodys as of October 1^st and that Standard and Poors also just upgraded the City to BAA3 Investment Grade rating with a Positive Outlook.

 

Councilwoman Rossi asked if getting an official rating required any work. 

 

The City Manager stated it does require quite a bit of work to get the periodic review, there are forms to fill out and conference calls and information to provide regarding revenue, finances, accomplishments and outlook before they make a decision. Director Moore and Mr. Luba as well as other City staff assisted with this.  The Budget Commission officially leaving the City is sign of fiscal stability and another periodic request will be sent to see if the City can keep going up in the ratings.

 

Councilwoman Rossi thanked the City Manager, Mr. Moore and Mr. Luba.

 

Mayor Briden announced that the East Providence Post gave a great editorial on the Budget and the actions taken by the Council including staying within the 5 year plan and highlighting the freeze in the homestead reduction and early pay incentive. The Council cut approximately $900,000 in expenses and reduced the tax rate to .75% below the 1% which was in the 5 year plan and set aside $3.7 million toward fiscal year alignment with the State and other communities. This represents a lot of hard work and great accomplishments.

 

Councilwoman Capobianco stated that on behalf of the Silver Spring community in recognition for the playground and basketball court she would like to thank Planning Director Jeanne Boyle, Director of Finance Malcolm Moore, Fiscal Advisor Paul Luba, City Manager Peter Graczykowski and Senator Daniel DaPonte for all their hard work in making this possible.

 

 

 

>VII.          ADJOURNMENT

 

A motion to adjourn is made by Assistant Mayor Rose, seconded by Councilman Cunha and on a roll call vote it is unanimous. 

 

 

 

Approved By Council:  November 5, 2013

 

 

Attest:  _______________

City Clerk