Providence Mayor Smiley Threatens Budget Cuts

The city is waiting on a Superior Court judgment that could require it to kick in additional millions in school funding

Mayor Brett Smiley warned the city could significant budget cuts if forced to pour millions into school funding.
Mayor Brett Smiley warned the city could significant budget cuts if forced to pour millions into school funding.
Nina Sparling / The Public’s Radio
1 min read
Share
Mayor Brett Smiley warned the city could significant budget cuts if forced to pour millions into school funding.
Mayor Brett Smiley warned the city could significant budget cuts if forced to pour millions into school funding.
Nina Sparling / The Public’s Radio
Providence Mayor Smiley Threatens Budget Cuts
Copy

Libraries. Parks. Summer programming for kids. The latest phase of the legal battle between city and state over funding the Providence School Department could mean significant reductions in these and other essential city services, Mayor Brett Smiley announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

“We’re going to have no choice but to have harmful, harmful cuts,” Smiley said. “(They) are going to impact the very same children and families that the school department says that they’re trying to help.”

City employees could face a furlough, Smiley said. New hires and discretionary spending are already on pause. Tax increases are on the table, Smiley warned.

This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.

‘It’s been remarkable for us to see just such a positive impact that she has’
Priorities include smoking ban in Rhode Island casinos and protection against extreme temperatures
Failure to pass police decertification laws results in information black hole on officers
Legislation to strengthen police oversight repeatedly thwarted in Rhode Island
Brown Environmental Studies and Sociology professor J. Timmons Roberts says the federal government’s actions have rendered the school a very different place than just a year ago
‘My mission is to illuminate Rhode Island and America’s past in a way that inspires us all, nurturing a collective sense of identity and purpose’
Democratic Rep. Jason Knight had previously voted against the proposal to make it a misdemeanor for minors to gamble online, but changed his vote in the affirmative