E. Greenwich gets budget advice from Carcieri aide
2:32 PM Tue, Apr 21, 2009 | Permalink
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EAST GREENWICH, R.I. - With a state budget deficit projected into 2014, Governor Carcieri's director of administration told the Town Council Monday night that cities and towns that begin their fiscal years on July 1 might want to move that back to October to deal with the annual uncertainty of trying to budget state aid. "You get better predictability," said the director, Gary Sasse, who spent a lot of time explaining why communities will be getting a lot less, and why that shortfall isn't going to be resolved soon. He told the council during a budget workshop that the state's problems go back to the administration of Lincoln Almond and the first time the state used tobacco settlement money to plug revenue shortfalls. Similar windfalls, including another round of tobacco money, were also used unwisely. "They really masked some tough decisions that needed to be made, and the problem became exacerbated when we got into an economic downturn," said Sasse. "We can all agree that the severity of the recession is pretty unprecedented in our lifetime." If it wasn't for the federal stimulus money from the Obama administration, Rhode Island would have a $350 million deficit for the current year, and $450 million to $500 million for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, he said. But that won't cure the underlying problems. "The state doesn't solve the budget hole without making some tough choices," Sasse said. Cities and towns are suffering their own budget nightmares, in part because state money is drying up. "All of my staff has cut back," Town Manager William Sequino said in an interview. "What's driving the budget this year is a revenue loss, not expenditures. I've probably lost $2.5 million in revenue" over last year. Part of that has come from the cutbacks in state aid and part of it is due to the fact that income from police fees, building permits and realty transfer taxes have dried up, he said. Sequino's proposed budget next year calls for no hike in anyone's salary, except for step increases, a reduction in the municipal budget and an increase of just one-half of one percent in the budget for schools. Sasse told the council that the state is running pretty lean right now. Only about one-third of the state budget goes for actually administering the state, and the Carcieri administration is working hard to keep costs down by switching health insurance carriers and keeping the number of state employees low, to the point where, in some cases, departments are understaffed. "Two-thirds of the money isn't for government operations. It's for state aid [to cities and towns] and grants to individuals" such as Medicaid, he said. Town Council President Michael B. Isaacs said East Greenwich has been running a tighter and tighter ship until it's now come to the point where there is nothing more to give. In the past five years, for example, there has been no increase in personnel and the town has changed health insurers twice to save money. "Now," he said, "we find ourselves really squeezed." The School Committee met the same time as the council and meets again Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Hanaford Elementary School, 200 Middle Road, to wrestle with its own budget, including issues of whether school sports and the gifted program will have to be cut back. gemery@projo.com / (401)277-7442 
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