Solomon signs contract with RIPEC to assist city finances

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 5/31/18

By JOHN HOWELL -- Saying that the investment of $16,000 will more than pay for itself in savings to the taxpayers, Acting Mayor Joseph J. Solomon announced Tuesday that he has engaged the services of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council...

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Solomon signs contract with RIPEC to assist city finances

Posted

Saying that the investment of $16,000 will more than pay for itself in savings to the taxpayers, Acting Mayor Joseph J. Solomon announced Tuesday that he has engaged the services of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council to assist the city’s finance department in examining the proposed FY19 $310.7 million budget.

Solomon also expects the 76-year-old non-profit, nonpartisan public policy agency to provide interim staffing in the Finance and Treasury departments.

"As we have been preparing for the upcoming budget hearings and examining the proposed FY19 budget submitted by the prior administration, it has become clear that a thorough, thoughtful and full review of the city's financial condition is in order, so we have an accurate, clear picture of our finances and can chart a good financial course going forward," Solomon said in a statement.

While there was no request for proposals, or other effort to obtain competitive bids for the work, Solomon expressed confidence in RIPEC stressing it is a nonpartisan agency. Prompting the action, Solomon said, was the unexpected resignation of the Finance Director and the imminent departure of the Treasurer.

He said Wednesday he expects RIPEC personnel to be with the city “for some time” and directly assist those “still left” in the finance department with everything from posting checks to analyzing budget data.

"RIPEC's wise counsel and the addition of some of their employees to our finance staff on an interim basis will be extremely beneficial to us. I am grateful to John Simmons, RIPEC's executive director, for his willingness to assist the City in this way," Solomon said in a release.

According to the release, both Mayor Solomon and Simmons said that RIPEC will develop a fiscal model, which will include a revenue analysis and examination of spending patterns, to estimate the future impacts of current financial decisions.

"My administration has inherited a backlog of issues that are hampering the financial operations of the city and need to be addressed," he said.

"As we go forward, if it becomes apparent that we need to extend the scope of services, or retain personnel for a longer period of time, that is something we will certainly take a look at,” he said.

Comments

6 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • richardcorrente

    As everyone knows, I am not an advocate of spending the taxpayers hard-earned dollars, but if this $16,000 is truly spent "non-partisan, non-profit", I am all for it. If it shows that we have always spent our budget in a fair-to-the-taxpayer way that will speak volumes and certainly will be worth the money. If it doesn't, and it shows the kind of savings that I predict it will, then this idea is will be a grand slam! In either event I applaud the effort. Well done Mayor Solomon. For my entire campaign, I have been calling for this kind of "audit" just for the school department budget. You decided to do it for the entire $310 million. Again, well done.

    Happy Summer everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Thursday, May 31, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    "For my entire campaign, I have been calling for this kind of 'audit' just for the school department budget."

    The make-believe mayor has, for his entire campaign, ignored the fact that an audit of the school department is conducted every year by the same firm that already audits the city's finances.

    He also incorrectly terms the RIPEC contract as an 'audit," when no such term has been used by acting Mayor Solomon, nor does it accurately apply to the work being done by RIPEC. An audit is a legally-guided process that requires adherence to a specific set of objective criteria -- not a review done within the scope of a short-term staffing assignment.

    The make-believe mayor is thus making another false claim of victory on a decision made by the true elected leaders of the city. It is a certainty that honest, taxpaying voters will overwhelmingly reject his candidacy at the first opportunity.

    Thursday, May 31, 2018 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    CrickeerRaven is right about my calling the "examination" of the budget an "audit". The two are not exactly the same thing but the end result is similar. The "examination" will point out if our numbers seem right. Are they consistent with other communities and most importantly are they UNBIASED, NON-PARTISAN, and performed by a NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION? The answer is "Yes." The examination will expose many cost savings I predict.

    The important thing to know is that Solomon is spending $16,000 of taxpayers hard-earned money in a way that I think will bring great dividends to the 80,000 taxpayers that are paying the tab. CrickeeRaven can pick apart the words, but the value is still there and the credit still goes to Mayor Solomon.

    Happy Summer everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Thursday, May 31, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    Once again, the make-believe mayor only corrects his lies when shamed into it -- and even then, still insists he was right all along.

    Honest, taxpaying voters know that he is unfit for any office and will prove it by overwhelmingly rejecting his candidacy again at the first opportunity.

    Thursday, May 31, 2018 Report this

  • bendover

    DICKIE.....PLEASSSSSSEEEE....Give it a rest. At the end of the day, RIPEC is going to tell you, as it has told others along with the Auditor General, for more than a decade, "You don't have a revenue problem, you have a spending problem." "Your woeful performance in addressing pension and healthcare benefit shortfalls is a result of incompetence, willful neglect and complete abdication of following sound actuarial principles." Call this the RI business model of "go along to get along." This is merely Joe's method of getting this past November and trying to avoid the demand and need for a forensic audit.

    As for you dick, why don't you just admit you continue this folly of "taxpayers mayor" in hopes that after Joe becomes Mayor, he will have pity on you and continue the Democrat model of give the loyal guy a J-O-B...Perhaps he will give you a job at the recycle center. That shoe would fit. Good luck in your future. You will never be Mayor.

    Friday, June 1, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    That's an interesting theory about the make-believe mayor's motivations, bendover, and pretty much follows his behavior up to this point: Delusional, self-promoting, and ultimately futile.

    I do have to say, though, that he doesn't seem all that loyal to the people he once called "the taxpayers city council" now that Joe Solomon is running for mayor. Suddenly they're "political insiders" and Solomon is some kind of flip-flopper. And I would think the loyal thing to do would be to drop out of the race, but the make-believe mayor has shown no ability to recognize the truth that, as you correctly state, he will never be elected mayor.

    Friday, June 1, 2018 Report this