III.                WORK SESSION

A.    Review and Discussion of the FY 2016-2017 Budget

Superintendent Crowley speaks at the beginning of the meeting and the Director of Finance for the School Department provides a PowerPoint presentation.  They note the first step salary for teachers for the City of East Providence is the 4th lowest in the State and that the top step is the lowest. The money spent on teachers in East Providence in total is the second to the lowest in the State. 

The three pillars of cities and towns are police fire and school.  Police and Fire investments have produced outstanding results.  Salaries for patrol are the 3rd highest and salaries for fire are the 2nd highest.  This is an opportunity for parity and collaboration to add 2.5% for teachers for both certified and non certified employees and this will raise the top step to 5th lowest in the State and the first step to 14th from the bottom which would put it in the middle of the pack. They note that it is difficult to keep good high quality teachers if they do not pay for these services. Regarding the workers compensation, East Providence is close to $400,000 if they have workers compensation it is not just physical but mental as well. There is currently a poor paper trail but with the new Director of Human Resources for the School Department they have tightened up that area for employees. With the workers compensation they are an unproven quantity.  Right now they intend to be proactive by offering professional development to custodians and maintenance staff and as they offer these classes the number comes down.  There needs to be more of an investment in digital resources, one on one chrome books for blended learning which are now in middle schools but they need them in the elementary schools this year.  The situation of the buildings is critical in many schools especially at the high school.  The RIDE reimbursement is at 52% but they could be waiting 12 months for that reimbursement and it can't be applied for 18 months to 2 years if it is not finished on time.  Martin Middle School has center courtyard windows where the rain comes in and the students use those ramps.  They need to renovate and make ADA compliant ramp and sidewalk repairs.  Francis School needs a roof.  Hennessy School needs a roof.  Whiteneckt needs fire alarms and sprinklers.  Riverside Middle School needs fire alarms and sprinklers.  Silver Spring School needs a parking lot and ADA compliant sidewalks.

The Superintendent stated she doesn’t mind coming and reporting to the Council as the year goes on regarding completion of the projects.  She notes they owe it to the teachers and the non certified staff to pay them what they deserve. Still through all of this they have found the most dedicated group of people that she has ever had the pleasure of working with. East Providence is lucky to have staff that stayed through a very difficult time. She explains that one family lost $16,000 and another lost $8,000 and they still are working diligently for the children in East Providence. 

Councilman Conley thanked Superintendent Crowley and staff for putting together such a detailed summary noting his pet peeve is the East Providence High School and he couldn’t disagree more with renovating because the City needs a new high school.  This is just not acceptable.  It is a 60 year old building which was never invested in and has passed its useful life.  He notes when he was on the School Committee they invested $10 million in it and you can’t even tell.  It needs a bond for $100-$150 million investment in education for future generations of the City of East Providence. Educating children and providing for public safety to police and fire are the three most important things and they need to be funded as such.  That hasn’t always been the case.  He notes his mother worked for the East Providence School Department and she loved it.  Education is the only thing they can't take away and my priority is the education of the children of East Providence.  

Superintendent Crowley thanked the City Council regarding the RFP which went out to evaluate the high school.

Councilman Coley states with all the effort, and he is not being critical of that, it’s just the ADA compliance and the plumbing will be in the millions and millions of dollars.

Assistant Mayor Cunha stated and it won’t be up to code just fixing it and the science lab needs help too noting they only have one.

Assistant Mayor Cunha asked if there was a priority list.

Superintendent Crowley stated she can’t fix the roof until the summer but the fire alarms and sprinklers need to be started right away.  Riverside can be done on weekends.  Martin’s courtyard windows are a very big project and will have to start right at the close of the school year.  The ramp and sidewalks for ADA compliance can be started during the school year.

Mayor Rose asked for the total request for this year.  Superintendent Crowley stated $1.12 million.

Councilman Conley asked about the insurance.  Superintendent Crowley stated The Trust is giving a better quote than Beacon due to the City already being insured by them.  

Councilman Conley asked if the workers compensation number was current. Superintendent Crowley stated this is only this last year’s as records are a bit incomplete prior.  They believe it's more than the $225,000 The Trust came up with.

Councilwoman Capobianco asked if 2009’s 5% pay cut was one of the reasons for the increase.  The Superintendent stated it was a big blow to many in the City and they are now the lowest paid in the State and it’s difficult to retain and attract teachers.  

Councilwoman Capobianco stated this was one of the best presentations on the school budget she has seen. She actually does know the situation in the buildings because both of her children attend East Providence schools and both are at the high school right now. Her family members are teachers. Her husband drives to North Kingstown to teach because he gets paid more.  She is 100% in favor of the request.

Mayor Rose stated one of the items he would like to add to start off with is that this is an easy to understand budget.  Last year it was a 4 page budget and the Council didn't have a clue what was going on in it.  They are not out here to take away they just want to know what is going on and they are being tough on other departments.  They understand they all have to work at this budget.  It takes about a month to get to the numbers but they understand better where the school department is coming from and he thanked them. 

Assistant Mayor Cunha stated he would like to congratulate all those who worked on the budget as they did an amazing job.  It is very detailed.  He notes he has 5 kids in his family and he knows it's an issue.  Everyone has been working with this.  He notes that he is in favor of giving this increase.

Mayor Rose states the public hearing on the budget will be held on October 4th at that point they can actually take votes. He thanked the School Department for the presentation and noted the Council will have to discuss the budget with all the departments. He asked if any Council members had any other questions regarding the rest of the budget.

Councilman Conley asked about the $30,000 for Riverside Square that it was his understanding this was part of the 2016 budget.

Councilwoman Capobianco states that she agrees.

Jeanne Boyle, Director of Planning is called to the podium.  She explains it is for a marketing study and that the money was at one point allocated for the marketing study but it was actually moved over for the funding for the Carousel so this is funding specific for The Square.  It was shifted for the additional capital improvements for the Carousel.  

Acting City Manager Chapman stated these were necessary repairs which at the time where emergency repairs.

Director Boyle stated the money that had been suggested for the study it was decided it was a higher priority need for the Carousel so Planning and the City Manager put it back in for funding for this year.

Councilman Conley asked if the 3 fire trucks had already entered into contracts for purchase.

Acting City Manager Chapman stated yes they have been going forward for the next 7 years for 3 trucks.

Assistant Mayor Cunha asked about the capital plan on page 55 and asked how many capital improvements are being deferred.

Acting City Manager Chapman stated last year $2.6 million was requested and this year $ 1.4 million was requested for the total capital and these were submitted by the Planning Department under their recommendation for what to do this year.  This is also vetted through the Planning Board and recommended by the various departments.  

Mayor Rose calls Financial Advisor Luba to the podium.  He asks him for his overall views on this year’s budget.  Mr. Luba states he feels it was well prepared and the department reviews were pretty stringent.  The Acting City Manager did a very good job in deciding what was absolutely necessary and any type of increases were very well done.  Over all the areas which have seen increases, public safety, the majority were in the head count which what you add in head count you reduce in overtime so it doesn't count that much towards the increase.  All the rest of the departments had a pretty small $360,000 increase.  This all came together in a .5% tax rate increase.  All together, not including the Schools, there are no raises for city employees per the contracts, police and fire have contractual raises.  It is a pretty bare bones budget which covers the essentials and not a lot of extras.  What projects were deferred, if you look at the 5 year plan there are a bunch in there and whatever wasn’t funded was deferred.  There are more projects than money.  The Acting City Manager took them by priority in what is a fiscally responsible budget.

Mayor Rose calls the Recreation Department Director Diane Sullivan to the podium and asks if what they had needed to take care of last year is all set this year.  Does she have enough to run the summer program?

Director Sullivan states the part time temporary salary item was set at $180,000 which is what was requested for the staffing to run the summer program.  

Mayor Rose calls Police Chief Parella to the podium.  Mayor Rose states for years the Police Department has used the Google forfeiture funds and that they need to get back to purchasing and buying vehicles with City funds.  He asks what part of the Police budget is used for this allocation.

Chief Parella states that is correct and last year he did say this would be going up.  They have to buy vehicles as they haven't since 2008.  They have not paid for one with budgeted money. They took the capital money to purchase 2 vehicles.  A fully loaded vehicle is $99,000 and next year some of the capital is marked for this and a HVAC system. They may be able to purchase this with asset forfeiture money as part of a building project and this would free up $120,000 in capital funds to lease or purchase 2-3 cars in 2017.  It would make the federal government happy if it is done this way.  That the City has invested in the purchase of cars should keep them in line with the federal government for the next few years.

Mayor Rose asked about the fact that there are appointed crossing guards but officers still have to work.

Chief Parella stated they are trying to increase the budget for school crossings.  The School Department stopped reimbursing the City for crossing guards for a number of years.  There hasn’t been an increase in the school crossing guard pay in 40 years.  Chief Tavares, Chief Parquet and Chief Dias paid $30 a day. Crossing Guards go in for one hour in the am and one hour in the pm.  They are appointed.  When the people are appointed they want to work details not crossings.  However, the City has to ensure those children have safe passage so an officer is taken off the road. It can be extremely taxing. The increase by $10 a day to $40 a day should help.  Right now East Providence is on the low end and some cities/towns go up as high as $50 a day.  Hopefully there will be more commitment if this raise goes through.  It is a $43,000 line item increase to $40 at day.  Those already at $50 would stay the same, they are in front of the High School and in front of Bay View and are extremely heavy traffic areas so they receive more pay. 

Both Councilman Conley and Councilwoman Capobianco agreed it would save money over paying an officer. 

Mr. Luba gave brief comments that the budget without the addition of the school money is a .5% tax increase and with the million from the school they are looking at a 2.6% tax increase.  One of the things to look for is to ask if it is structurally achievable going forward.  The issue for next year is that every single union contract comes due so you have to fit all the increases into the tax cap.  Keep in mind you can only increase 4% on the levy and that all 7 contracts are up.

Assistant Mayor Cunha stated the increase from the schools is not just for salaries it’s also for infrastructure.

The items will be further discussed as part of the Budget Hearing at the October 4, 2016 Regular Council Meeting.   

IV.                ADJOURNMENT

A motion to Adjourn is made at 8:19PM by Councilwoman Capobianco, seconded by Councilman Conley and on a roll call vote the motion passes 4-0 with Councilman Britto Absent. 

Approved By Council:  November 1, 2016

Attest:  _______________

                  City Clerk