[The Providence Republican Party issued this statement in response to Mayor Brett Smiley’s announcement Wednesday of his proposed budget for FY 2026 and the passage last month by the Providence City Council of a resolution to raise the city’s property tax levy by up to 8%.]

Leaders of the Providence Republican Party declared their opposition to the supplemental tax increase proposed by Mayor Brett Smiley.

“There are two ways to deal with a budget shortfall – raising taxes or reducing unnecessary spending,” stated Providence Republican City Committee (PRCC) co-chairmen Dave Talan and Angel Connell in their press release. “We choose the latter approach”.

Following a judge’s decision last year to rule that the city needed to pay more for education costs, Mayor Smiley stated that the $15 million school funding settlement required him to seek permission from state lawmakers to raise city taxes beyond the 4% cap mandated on all municipalities in the state.

The Providence City Council last month unanimously approved a resolution supporting a State House bill that would allow the city to increase its tax revenue capped at a maximum of 8% for fiscal year 2026.

“Mayor Smiley talked about possible unpopular cuts to basic city services that would be needed as an alternative to raising property taxes,” added Talan. “But he hasn’t talked about cuts to the agency that makes up 55% of the city’s budget, which is the School Department”.

Talan offered specific suggestions for spending reductions currently listed on the official PRCC Facebook page.

Acknowledging the mayor’s lack of control over the city’s public school system, Talan pointed out that the mayor “still has the ability to advise the state Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green and…publicly lobby her for the kinds of cost reductions that improve education”.

One idea proposed by the PRCC leaders would be to reduce the $22 million transportation costs by $10 million a year, the minimum amount of money the mayor’s tax increase would raise. Talan and Connell estimated that the transportation line item number could be cut in half if children’s families could CHOOSE to send their kids to neighborhood schools within walking distances of their homes rather than being bussed across town.

“Reducing the number of children being bused from 9,000 children down to 4,500 would also cut down chronic absenteeism, one of the biggest causes of poor education outcomes,” added Talan. “And parents without a car during the day (half of parents in many sections of the city) would be able to participate in their children’s education, if their school was within walking distance.”

Reduced busing is not a new concept, argued Talan. He pointed out that the previous School Superintendent, Harrison Peters was working on a similar plan. A few years prior to Peters’ tenure, then-Director of Operations Robin Muksian was studying the reduced busing concept as well.

A few other ideas provided by the PRCC leaders included

· Reduce the number of “non-essential” school employees who were added with one-time COVID funds (which has now completely run out).

· Cut back on “questionable” private contracts that provide no concrete value to students.

· Investigate why the cost-per-pupil in Providence public schools is $27K per child while most individual schools average $17K per student (as outlined in the report card issued by the Commissioner of Education’s office: www.reportcard.ride.ri.gov.

· Reduce the bloated bureaucracy in the administrative office.

Connell argued that anticipated results of an audit being conducted on the Providence school system should be taken into consideration prior to any discussion about increased taxes.

“You’re putting the cart (tax increases) ahead of the horse (school audit results),” he explained.

While Connell was confident the results of the school system’s audit would “buttress the necessity” for the Republican proposals, he stated that the PRCC would also assist voters in putting pressure on their elected representatives to rebuff Mayor Smiley’s tax plan.

“I’ve heard from several Providence taxpayers who are angry at the uptick in their property assessments,” said Connell. “So they’re in no mood to pay for high tax increases as well.”

“Dave and I sympathize with the Mayor over the tough position he’s in due to the judge’s ruling,” Connell concluded. “But we strongly disagree with his tax proposal. We’re going to fight it.”

Dave Talan is a long-time Republican activist who has spent almost 50 years volunteering in numerous education groups, neighborhood associations, Little League, and other groups that work with school-age children.

Angel Connell is an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and actor based in the New England entertainment marketplace.

[Featured image by “Curated Lifestyle” via Unsplash.]