PORTSMOUTH — The Town Council breezed through Portsmouth’s 2016 fiscal budget in 37 minutes Wednesday night with little comment.
Larry Fitzmorris of the taxpayer watchdog group Portsmouth Concerned Citizens said he counted only “eight civilians” in attendance at the annual budget hearing at the Portsmouth Middle School “Little Theater.” The rest were town officials or municipal employees.
“That’s better that last year, when there were five,” he quipped.
According to Interim Town Administrator James Lathrop, who’s also the town’s director of finance and personnel, the $58.26 million spending plan calls for an increase in the tax levy of about 1 percent.
However, he said, “the tax rate itself will not go up.” The current tax rate is $15.80 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The budget includes $30.85 million for the school district, the same amount as in the current spending plan. The budget includes money to hire a school resource office, the salary of whom is being shared by the council and the School Committee. The Portsmouth Prevention Coalition (PCC) is also donating $5,000 toward the job.
Ray Davis, coordinator of the PCC, thanked town and school officials for establishing the school resource officer position. “I think it’s going to make a huge difference,” he said.
The budget includes numerous capital improvement projects, including more than $3 million for repairs to school buildings, including replacing boilers in all four schools. About $2.1 million of the schools’ surplus will be funding that project. Other capital improvements include $2.5 million for road repairs on Prudence Island.
Transfer station fund questioned
The only extended comments on the budget came from Alan Corcoran, chairman of the town’s Solid Waste/Recycling Committee, regarding that transfer station enterprise fund. Mr. Corcoran questioned the amount of recycling rebates the town will receive from the R.I. Resource Recovering Corp (RIRRC) in Johnston.
The enterprise fund line item estimates the town will receive $45,000 in rebates, but Mr. Corcoran told the council that RIRRC is predicting no more than $24,000 being returned. That’s based on the town’s recycling rate of 32 percent, which isn’t expected to go any higher, he said.
“That $45,000 is way off. You really need to contend with that,” he said.
He also said all the transfer station credits should be separate line items in the budget in the interests of transparency. “When you’re not transparent, trust issues come up,” he said.
Finally, Mr. Corcoran said he had a problem with how residents who pay to use the transfer station are subsidizing Hog Island residents who use a private company to haul their garbage off the island.
“Hog Island residents do not participate in the enterprise fund through the purchase of stickers,” said Mr. Corcoran, who added the town could give a credit to Hog Island residents for removing trash, but that it should not come from the enterprise fund.
Council member David Gleason said Mr. Corcoran made some valid points that could be explored further. “I think we can come to some type of compromise,” said Mr. Gleason, who vowed to have something ready before the council officially adopts the budget at its June 22 meeting.
Printed copies of the proposed budget are available in the Finance Office at Town Hall, 2200 East Main Road, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.