PROVIDENCE – Charging for trash collection, selling the public golf course, increasing the meal and beverage tax, asking more of nontax-paying entities and renegotiating pension and health care agreements with city employees are just a few of the ideas being floated to help Providence fix its fiscal problems.
The National Resource Network, a coalition of nationwide consultants, on April 25 released the second installment of its report on Providence, detailing a number of ideas the city could follow over the next 10 years to help bring some stability to its finances.
The 167-page report details numerous proposals, ranging from minor ideas, such as creating a performance-management center that could provide cumulative savings of $257,000 through 2026, to much more complex and contentious ideas, including the claw back of previously agreed-upon pension and health care agreements with city unions, which could save the city tens of millions of dollars over the 10-year period.
The report also suggests the city’s largest nonprofits, such as its universities and hospitals, contribute a greater amount through payment in lieu of taxes in exchange for the city earmarking those funds for agreed-upon and targeted investments. •
