PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri decided to release more than $33 million in auto tax payments to cities and towns Thursday, giving up on part of his plan to close a $219 million hole in this year’s state budget.
The Carcieri administration had withheld the third-quarter reimbursements – which should have been paid to communities on Feb. 1 – in hopes the General Assembly would act on his fiscal 2010 supplemental budget recommendations, which included keeping third and fourth quarter auto excise tax reimbursements totaling $65.1 million.
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Earlier this week, 13 municipalities filed a lawsuit demanding that the third-quarter money be released. Woonsocket had filed a similar lawsuit last week.
While he reversed course, Carcieri lashed out at legislators Thursday for not approving his budget recommendations.
“House and Senate leadership have made it very clear to me that the General Assembly does not intend to support my proposal to withhold the third-quarter payment to cities and towns,” Carcieri said in a statement late Thursday. “I am very concerned that the General Assembly has chosen not to act on this matter.”
“Clearly, they do not understand, or they simply refuse to address, the magnitude of the financial crisis the State is facing,” he continued. “By not approving my FY 2010 supplemental budget as proposed, the General Assembly has put Rhode Island in an even worse financial position, and is failing to deal with the underlying causes of our perennial deficits – spending levels that cannot be sustained.”
“I have seen no plan from the General Assembly on how else to close the deficit,” the governor said. “Since they have neglected to act on my supplemental budget, the taxpayers can only conclude the General Assembly will not enact the structural reductions in spending, and therefore are creating an additional $33 million shortfall.”
“One thing is certain: I will not support any increase in broad-based taxes,” he added. “The General Assembly cannot and should not let the taxpayer shoulder the cost for their inaction.”
Carcieri’s fiscal 2011 $7.51 billion budget proposal includes a recommendation that the state withhold a full year of auto tax payments of $135.3 million.
