PROVIDENCE – Voters at the polls today aren’t just deciding the state’s elected officials – they’ll also approve or deny up to $400 million in bonds for infrastructure improvements across Rhode Island.
And in thirty-one of the state’s cities and towns, voters will also have their say in whether long-anticipated recreational cannabis sales, which the state legalized earlier this year, will take place within their communities.
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Statewide, the requested $400 million in bonds break down to a $100 million bond issue for repairs and new construction at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus; a $250 million bond issue for construction and renovations to Rhode Island public school buildings; and a $50 million “green economy” bond issue.
Statewide ballot questions
For voters across Rhode Island, Question 1 asks for a $100 million bond issue approval to finance improvements at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus.
If approved, the bond will fund the construction of a new, 77,000-square-foot Ocean Frontiers Building; the replacement of two ocean engineering facilities; the renovation of the 30-year-old URI Coastal Institute headquarters; and a 9,000 square feet addition to the Marine Geological Samples Laboratory.
The issue, like all three statewide ballot questions, may sound familiar — The requested improvements comprise the second phase of planned improvements to the Bay Campus. Voters approved a $45 million bond in 2018 to fund the first phase, which the university expects will be completed by May 2024.
Question 2 asks voters to approve a $250 million bond “to provide funding for the construction, renovation and rehabilitation of the state’s public schools.”
Like Question 1, the bond request is the next step in a multi-faceted improvement process, which school officials say started in 2017. Four years ago, voters approved $250 million bond for public school building improvements.
Many of the school’s buildings have gone decades without significant improvement, officials say, and some were built over a century ago — and these aging buildings can’t always support modern education needs.
Locally, seven municipalities are also requesting a combined total of $1.4 billion in additional school bonds, according to the Rhode Island Department of Education.
Question 3 asks voters to authorize a total of $50 million in bond issues to be distributed across nine uses intended to boost the state’s green economy.
The largest of those nine allocations, at $16 million, would fund matching grants of up to 75% for municipal resiliency projects that restore or improve coastal habitats and river floodplains.
The proposal allocates another $12 million toward the Roger Williams Park Zoo, which would use the bond to fund a new education center and events pavilion, which Executive Director Stacey Johnson says will help the zoo to keep up with growing attendance and programming demands.
The rest of the green economy bond would go toward a $5 million small-business energy loan program; $3 million toward Narragansett Bay and watershed restoration; $3 million toward forest and habitat restoration; $4 million toward brownfield, or industrial-site, cleanups; and $7 million toward protecting open space, divided into $3 million for the State Land Conservation program and $4 million for local matching grants.
In previous elections, Rhode Island voters have generally supported the general topics brought up in the three bond proposals, leaving many of their advocates optimistic that the measures will pass once again. But the requests also come at a time where interest rates are rising, which will also increase borrowing costs.
Michael DiBiase, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, wasn’t overly concerned about these rising costs. Interest rates though rising, will likely remain relatively low, he previously told PBN, and shouldn’t have a huge impact on the overall affordability of the bonds.
The Rhode Island Public Finance Management Board recommends the state’s debt-service-to-general-revenue ratio stay below 7%. That ratio will sit at around 5.58% in fiscal 2025, according to projections in a 2021 RIPEC report.
Recreational cannabis sales
Though Rhode Island approved recreational cannabis sales statewide in May, in most communities, vendors can’t begin sales without an OK from voters at the polls today.
The R.I. Cannabis Act automatically authorizes cities and towns to allow recreational sales, unless local officials decide to put the issue to voters on a referendum. The vast majority of the state’s municipalities will take the latter route.
Officials in five communities — Cranston, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Exeter and Foster — decided to forgo a ballot measure and opt-in. Additionally, Providence, Warwick and Portsmouth already host Compassion Centers (medical cannabis dispensaries) which can automatically double as retail outlets when sales officially become legal on Dec. 1.
But in another 31 communities, voters will have the final say when they head to the polls today.
Voter approval doesn’t guarantee a municipality will allow recreational sales — Rhode Island will issue just 33 retail licenses under current plants, and nine are already allocated to licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.
Local ballot questions
In addition to voting on recreational cannabis at the municipal level, voters in some communities will also determine proposals that have drawn high interest, and sometimes controversy, around K-12 public education.
In Providence, voters will be asked to decide on a series of changes to the city charter, including a controversial change to how school board members are chosen.
The proposal calls for swapping the current method, in which the mayor appoints all nine members, to a hybrid model (with one extra seat) in which five members are appointed by the mayor and five are elected by city residents.
Mayor Jorge O. Elorza has come out against the proposal, initially attempting to stop it from making it to the ballot although his veto was overridden by the City Council.
Advocates say the change will bring more public representation to the school board, but opponents have raised concerns about the influence of special interest groups and the need for consistency in a school district plagued by poor student performance, leadership gaps and teacher shortages.
Providence voters will also be asked to approve $125 million for various improvements to school buildings.
Voters in Pawtucket are being asked whether or not to approve a $330 million bond to build a new high school that is slated to be constructed on the site of McCoy Stadium. According to the city, the proposed new school would unite the Charles E. Shea and William E. Tolman high schools in one 482,500-square-foot building, housing approximately 2,500 students. Renderings of the proposed school show a large team-based digital learning space, engineering and STEM lab spaces, an outdoor plaza and on-site athletic field.
The new high school will also be the first one built in the city since 1938, if voters OK the bond question. McCoy Stadium, first built in 1942, has sat vacant since 2020 when the Pawtucket Red Sox moved to Worcester, Mass.
North Providence and Providence each have $125 million school construction bond questions being proposed to voters. In the city, the school bond looks to finance significant renovations to help the Providence Public School District improve its struggling school infrastructure. This bond, if approved, would be issued after the $300 million school bond is completed by around the 2026 fiscal year.
In North Providence, the bond, if approved, would be used to build three new elementary schools – Centredale, Greystone and Dr. Joseph A. Whelan – in town and make improvements to North Providence High School with new athletic facilities.
Other ballot requests for school construction funding include: Warwick, requesting $350 million for two new high schools; Middletown, $235 million for several new schools; East Providence, $148 million for a new middle school, early childhood center and elementary school renovations; and Westerly, $50 million for a new elementary school and repair work.
Each school bond will have an 80% reimbursement rate from the state.
Voters in Newport and Middletown are deciding on a ballot question that if approved by both communities, would create a regional school district with a unified administration that would begin operations in 2023.
Combing school districts would provide an 80 percent reimbursement from the state on the $235 million in new school building construction costs in Middletown, as well as provide an additional $46 million toward Newport’s new high school currently being built.
A previous referendum on district regionalization was held in 2013 and was approved by Newport voters but failed to pass in Middletown.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com. Staff writers Nancy Lavin, James Bessette and Christopher Allen contributed to this report.
