Report outlines city’s ‘unprecedented’ crisis

PROVIDENCE – Problems ranging from high pension costs to poor budget estimates plague the city’s finances, according to a report commissioned by Mayor Angel Taveras.
The report, released March 3, details a structural deficit estimated at $69.6 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and a $109.9 million hole in the budget for fiscal year ending June 30, 2012.
At a news conference, Taveras called it an “unprecedented fiscal crisis,” adding that it constituted an emergency that “demands immediate action.”
The report identified problems such as underfunded pension plans and red light traffic cameras that likely cost, rather than make, the city money. Taveras did not address a suggestion in the report to privatize the city-owned Roger Williams Park Zoo.
In the immediate future Taveras must close a projected deficit in the current fiscal year. The report said borrowing is expected to whittle down the deficit to $28.6 million from $69.6 million.
Last week, the mayor outlined a number of other steps to slash the deficit. Taveras said he would take a 10 percent pay cut, implement a hiring freeze, require department heads to trim their budgets by at least 10 percent and had already canceled a $1.4 million contract with an employee benefits management company to save the city $900,000. •