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
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.

As federal funding winds down, Steinberg steps down after helping launch Rhode Island’s push into the life sciences industry, highlighting early wins and long-term potential for economic impact
More than 200 residents packed City Hall as the Newport City Council urged Brown University Health to keep the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center open — a vital maternity unit where nearly 500 babies were born last year
Labor historian Scott Molloy, an emeritus professor at URI, says Coia was ahead of his time
The Senate voted by a razor-thin margin late Tuesday to advance debate on a package of funding cuts requested by President Trump that would claw back $1.1 billion previously allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting