Council ‘picks’ through budget

By Mary Johnson
Posted 5/26/16

“We all live within household budgets and we live within business budgets and I think we have to live within city budgets,” said Councilman Joseph Solomon during Monday night’s budget hearings. …

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Council ‘picks’ through budget

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“We all live within household budgets and we live within business budgets and I think we have to live within city budgets,” said Councilman Joseph Solomon during Monday night’s budget hearings. The bulk of Monday’s hearing, which ran past midnight, focused on line items within the budgets for Police, Fire and Public Works. Often resembling a family squabble over a tight budget, council members questioned Mayor Scott Avedisian and department heads about phones, portable radios, and premium gasoline as they look for ways to trim the city’s budget. Saturday’s budget hearing covered schools, which represent 53.9 percent of the total budget.

The council was scheduled to meet last night to adopt a budget and set tax rates. Avedisian will have the opportunity to veto budget items or let the package stand. 

The mayor’s proposed 2017 budget of $298,728,119 represents a 1.59 increase in spending. While residential and commercial property tax funds 75.9 percent of the budget. Avedisian proposes a reducing the residential tax rate to $20.24 from $20.75, and the commercial rate dropped to $30.36 from $31.13.

But reduced tax rates may not translate into reduced tax bills as overall property assessments increased as a result of the revaluation completed as of Dec. 31, 2015.

On Monday, the Department of Public Works was the only department to come under scrutiny for not spending enough money. The DPW budgeted $1 million for road repairs, a drop from $2.3 million in the current year. The DPW has a partnership with National Grid to replace or resurface roads when Grid does utility work, which helps stretch the city’s paving budget. Eric Earls, Warwick city engineer, said the city is responsible for maintaining 400 miles of pavement, and that with the $1 million budgeted they can completely replace about 3.5 miles, or resurface seven miles. 

“We need more money in the paving department if we’re going to keep up,” said Councilman Steve Merolla. “Roads need to be as important as education.”

In an interview Tuesday, Councilman Ed Ladouceur said the council would like to find $1 million in cuts in the current budget in order to restore the Public Works budget for paving to current funding levels.

At Monday’s hearing, Ladouceur thanked the public, adding not one constituent asked him to stop fixing the roads so they can lower taxes or complained about a kick in taxes when they can see the roads are being fixed.

In the quest for cuts, staffing and overtime at the Police and Fire Department were questioned at length. Community activist Rob Cote continued to hammer the council and Fire Chief James McLaughlin about unused sick time. Cote said 19.9 percent of the additional revenue needed to fund this year’s budget would go toward 114 firefighters for their unused sick pay bonus. He said payments for unused sick time represent an 8.2 percent “backdoor bonus.” Reimbursement for unused sick time is budgeted for $552,000 in the proposed 2017 budget. The line item is projected to end this fiscal year at $931,950, exceeding the approved 2016 budget line by $586,950.

State law provides for public safety officers to receive unlimited sick days to cover injury or illnesses that are work related. The city contract allocates 20 days per firefighter per year to cover time off for non-work related illnesses. McLaughlin said a cap on sick days was necessary, because “History in departments around the country show unlimited sick time [for non-work related illness] is not good.” Those covering absences due to sick time are paid at time and a half, which runs up overtime.

Under the new contract, eligible firefighters collect pay for up to 15 of their 20 sick days a year. They become eligible for reimbursement after accruing 140 sick days, which requires working for 7 or more years. Cote questioned the need to provide 20 days for each firefighter, when “only a fraction of 1 sick day per man is actually consumed, and the rest of those sick days are monetized in one form or another.” Cote said the department has accrued 22,785 sick days “in the bank,” and “that is not a line item in the city budget, and a $8.7 million liability.”

Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson asked about a $15,861 increase in payments to police officers who have to appear in court. Deputy Chief of Police Michael Babula said this was a change in court policy that schedules five or six trials every day, and requires every policeman involved to report at 9 a.m., even though the court usually only gets to two trials a day. The department is talking with the judge and is hopeful they’ll be able to make changes to the schedule that reduce amount of unproductive time officers spend waiting in court.

The price of gasoline was a recurring theme, with Councilmen Joseph Solomon, Merolla and Ladouceur, questioning officials from the Police, Fire, Public Works and Transwick Senior Transportation about the amount and grade of gasoline the departments used.

Colonel Stephen McCartney, Chief of Police, and Babula responded to lengthy questioning about the cost of fuel, particularly about transfers made out of the $405,000 gasoline account this year to cover ammunition and training. The police department used about 142,000 gallons of gas this year, and their usage has dropped consistently as new, more fuel-efficient cruisers are added to the fleet. Councilman Solomon, questioning the use of premium fuel rather than regular unleaded, said, “I think if you’re to take 150,000 gallons and use unleaded fuel, it would save us about 40 cents a gallon, or about $60K that can be utilized someplace else…I don’t think it will effect the performance of the department or law enforcement in doing their duties.” 

Technology upgrades were topics of discussion with Carlos Zambrano, Systems Administrator of the Management Information Systems (MIS), and at the Police Department. MIS is planning to purchase and install a new phone system, replacing a system the mayor called “antiquated.” About ten years ago, according to the mayor, a bid was awarded and rescinded to spend $1 million on a phone system. The new will cost $389,400.  He said, “If you buy early on in a new technology, it’s very expensive, and it’s much cheaper now.” The Police Department has proposed a four-year plan to spend $80,000 including funds from the remaining asset forfeiture program, grants and a budget line, to replace a quarter of the 40 desktops and 39 laptops each year. They will also begin a six-year cycle to replace the 140 portable radios that were purchased with a special federal grant 14 years ago and are currently being cannibalized for parts as the units fail.

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  • Thecaptain

    To clarify the fire fighter sick time. Title 45 allows for unlimited sick time for on duty injury or illness. The WFD contract does not circumvent Title 45, it is an unnecessary perk in addition to Title 45. In particular the WFD contract states (ridiculously), that "any employee who contracts an illness on the job shall not be docked of his sick day. In other words, virtually any illness is reported as job related so no fire fighter ever loses any of his 20 days per year, hence, they are all monetized at the end of the year. Huge scam perfected by 3 members of the WFD who all lived together on 1 Royal Dr. in Narragansett.

    More importantly, any firefighter can take off days under "the sick day scam" , his replacement is brought in at time and half, and the "sick" firefighter is paid and does not have the day counted against him. It is a scam that has been taking place for years. In addition, the contract also states that additional sick time can be allocated at the discretion of the chief. What sense does that make? As an example, there is a WFD member that owns a painting company and bids on state projects. He has done lots of projects at URI. How does he find the time to work on a full time construction job in addition to being on the WFD? Answer - he takes days off and does not lose any time as he uses "sick days" or has someone cover for him. The sick days are not counted against him because he says, as an example, I got a cold from that lady we took out who was coughing. Also, substitutions are allowed only if done in writing. Interesting that the APRA request shows no substitutions in writing.

    The fact of the matter as the chief illustrated on Monday is that no one is accounting for firefighters being out "sick". No records are kept. If there is a line item in the budget for the sick time used by the 9 civilians on the department, why isn't there a line item for the sick time used by the uniformed fire fighters? Because the system has been gamed for years and the council is too incompetent to realize it. It was hysterical when the chief didn't understand that any information entered into software can be printed as a document. Unbelievable. Where is the finance director Wilkinson on all of this? Not one question was asked. And the Oakland Beach dummy sat silent which makes 10 years of budget hearings without one question.

    Every service line item in the budget has been cut but every employee has received step increases, longevity increases, and raises. Some raises $10 - $20,000. Its called the Scotty buy off. If you paid attention you will remember that in the last election cycle, in May, Avedisian hit the rainy day fund for $850,000 to give all employees a $1000 bonus just before he declared his re-election campaign. The fire fighters declined the bonus stating that they felt they could do better in contract negotiations. Well guess what, here is the Scotty quid pro quo. Your mayor is bought and paid for by the unions. The city continues to decay and Scotty continues to increase the liabilities, decrease the assets, and give away the store.

    Its time to pay attention folks. Wait till July 1 when you all get your tax bills. I cant wait to see the angry mob at the annex building. Also, if anyone would like the documents indicting the above numbers, just e-mail me at cartaxrevolt@aol.com and I will forward copies of the official city documents.

    By the way the city engineered testified that under the current road repair budget it will take 60 - 100 years to repair all of Warwick's roads. Nice.

    Thursday, May 26, 2016 Report this

  • Reality

    This unused sick day bonus for firemen is incredible. How did the Mayor negotiate this outlandish benefit ?

    The question now is where does Mr. Corrente stand on this issue? Does he think the should be eliminated. We know he loves to blog on this page so I hope he let's us know.

    Keep in mind Mr. Corrente's best buddy aka Vella-Wilkinson , the city council finance chairperson, has done nothing to stop this abuse. In fact she voted last year to increase the bonus by 50%.

    Thursday, May 26, 2016 Report this

  • Stella

    I had no idea that the police were using high performance police cars and utility vehicles. Why I bet that compression is race car like. Will someone in the city look up what the octane rating on fuel is all about and save my tax dollars. Better yet use the savings for school infrastructure, you know the bridges sorry I mean the school buildings. I was mixed up as they both have had no work done in 40 years.

    Thursday, May 26, 2016 Report this

  • PaulHuff

    After a little research police interceptors engines have almost 11 compression and recommend premium unleaded.

    http://www.autobytel.com/ford/utility-police-interceptor/2015/specifications/

    Friday, May 27, 2016 Report this

  • Stella

    Premium gas gives you more miles per gallon than regular gas.

    Sorry, that's pretty much booo-gus.

    Here's why.

    Each gallon of gas that we pump from our local Quickie Mart is actually made up from as many as seven different ingredients. The exact amount of energy in each gallon of premium or regular gas will vary from company to company, depending upon what kind of additives they use.

    In actual fact, you'll get a greater range of fuel economy between different brands of regular gas, than you will between the same manufacturer's regular and premium gasses. Interesting, eh? We thought so.

    Finally, here's a nice irony: to increase gas' octane rating, companies add ethanol, when they're mixing up a batch of premium fuel. Interestingly, ethanol actually contains less energy than untreated gas, so the net result from the ethanol component is a reduction in your MPG. Other premium additives, however, have the reverse effect, and slightly increase your MPG. So okay, overall premium provides a very slight net increase in MPG, but it's so slight that we swear you won't notice the difference.

    I always used the increased MPG that resulted from using premium as a justification to purchase it.

    Too bad. Consider yourself better informed now, and stop lining the pockets of oil companies, okay?

    Knock sensors are used in virtually all new GM, Ford, European, and Japanese cars, and most DaimlerChrysler vehicles built today. According to Gottfried Schiller, director of powertrain engineering at Bosch, these block-mounted sensors-one or two of them on most engines and about the size of a quarter-work like tiny seismometers that measure vibration patterns throughout the block to identify knock in any cylinder. Relying on these sensors, the engine controller can keep each cylinder's spark timing advanced right to the hairy edge of knock, providing peak efficiency on any fuel and preventing the damage that knock can do to an engine. But, noted Schiller, only a few vehicles calibrated for regular fuel can advance timing beyond their nominal ideal setting when burning premium.

    Friday, May 27, 2016 Report this

  • danfire

    Warwick's new logo

    WHILE TEACHERS GET LAID OFF ADMINISTRATORS GET LAID

    Warwick's new logo under Phil Thornton leadership.

    Score a savings of $160.000.

    Saturday, May 28, 2016 Report this

  • RISchadenfreude

    Stella & PaulHuff, police vehicles are filled from the same pump at HQ, tax-free; save yourself the time of useless research and trying to look like experts, and just find out what kind of fuel they use- start with a call to City Hall.

    It's never failed to amaze me how much time is wasted when working from incorrect assumptions...

    Tuesday, May 31, 2016 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    danfire said

    "Warwick's new logo

    WHILE TEACHERS GET LAID OFF ADMINISTRATORS GET LAID

    Warwick's new logo under Phil Thornton leadership.

    Score a savings of $160.000."

    And in the end, the students get screwed.

    Tuesday, May 31, 2016 Report this

  • PaulHuff

    @RISchadenfreude....They use Premium fuel. Councilman Solomon was questioning why they don't use the cheaper Regular.

    So we already know what type of fuel it is.

    Tuesday, May 31, 2016 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    Rob,

    If you have any "documents indicting the above numbers" I would love to see them. Please e-mail to rcorrente@123bankers.com or correntemayorwarwick@gmail.com. I will give them a serious read.

    Thanks Rob.

    Richard Corrente

    Democrat for Mayor

    Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Report this

  • ThatGuyInRI

    So are there any new "positions" open in administration in the WSD?

    They sound like good positions to have, fringe benefits and all.

    Monday, June 6, 2016 Report this