PROVIDENCE – Mayor Brett P. Smiley on Thursday laid out his administration’s 2024 legislative priorities, focusing efforts on revamping the controversial "8% law" regulating tax breaks on affordable housing development and implementing greater enforcement mechanisms for environmental and traffic violators.
In a closed-door briefing at City Hall, Smiley said his administration has gotten a head start on crafting a package of legislative asks to submit to the General Assembly.
State law currently allows property owners of buildings being rehabilitated to pay 8% of the previous year’s rent collected as its property tax bill on housing that includes low-income units, defined as 80% of Area Median Income.
Instead, Smiley is asking state officials to amend the law to only allow breaks calculated on the number of affordable units, not to the entire property. The request also includes removing the law’s applicability to commercial properties and allowing construction of new residential housing developments to qualify in order
to "further incentivize the development of new affordable housing in the city.”
If implemented the amendment would only apply to future projects and not to agreements already in place.
“There is so much potential for abuse,” said Smiley. "
There are more and more private developers who have expressed interest in using the 8-Law as a way to benefit from the subsidy."
The administration would also like greater penalties for homeowners, landlords and commercial businesses who fail to pay city fines for improperly disposing of trash and recycling by adding past-due fines to property tax bills. The city only collects about 20% of total fines levied for violations such as failing to properly dispose of trash, recycling and bulky items.
Administration officials said that there are currently $2.7 million in unpaid fines from 8,600 citations issued since 2019. Making matters worse is the city is billed for rejected loads by R.I. Resource Recovery Corp., which amounted to $1.7 million in fiscal 2023.
Another “quality of life” initiative on Smiley’s radar is securing enabling legislation amending the 2016 law that allowed speed cameras to record and assess fines to violators. To better address noise pollution and other traffic issues, the proposal would greenlight the installation of new cameras that can monitor and enforce noise ordinances rather than relying on city police officers on the street. He also wants to expand the law to include fines for motorists who “block the box,” meaning pulling past red lights and blocking busy intersections preventing other motorists from passing.
Other requests include asking state lawmakers to fully subsidize the Distressed Communities Relief Fund that provides state aid to municipalities with the highest property tax burdens relative to overall taxpayer wealth. The administration is asking for the state budget to include $7 million to Providence, the amount the city received last year.
Similarly, Smiley is requesting the state fund 100% of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes reimbursement to all cities and towns and hopes the General Assembly includes a change that would require nonprofits to pay a portion of employee payroll taxes from new jobs created.
Officials confirmed Thursday the administration remains in negotiations with Lifespan Corp. over its PILOT payments to Providence, the last of which occurred in September 2021.
The health system is the only major tax-exempt entity in Providence without a payment agreement.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@pbn.com.
