Council Approves 2014 Budget

The fiscal 2014 budget is set to go after the North Kingstown Town Council unanimously approved the $97.4 million budget Wednesday night.

Going into the night's special meeting, council members had asked Town Manager Michael Embury and Finance Director Trish Sunderland to find cuts and scenarios that would bring the town's side of the budget as close to revenue-neutral as possible (i.e. no additional tax dollars would be raised to fund increases in the municipal side).

Among those cuts, the council passed the elimination of three potential positions in the North Kingstown Fire Department – a $200,000 price tag.

Another $225,000 allotted for road repairs and repaving will come from the town's surplus. Embury and Councilor Carol Hueston opposed the idea of dipping into the town's reserves for the expense. Councilor Kevin Maloney said he felt that the repaving budget was "extremely underfunded" and was amenable to the use of surplus money this year only. In a previous meeting, Public Works Director Phil Bergeron said that, if the council keeps pushing off these repairs, the town may need to go out for a bond in a few years to fix its roads. At this time, a number of NK's roads are failing or in danger of failing.

The council also moved to reduce the school's request from about $1.5 million in additional appropriation down to $1,041,570.

"This is quite a large increase, compared to other nearby communities," said Council President Elizabeth Dolan. "It's not what they were hoping for, but I think we're doing a reasonably good job for our taxpayers."

Part of the initial increase request from the school department included funding an anticipated 1 percent increase in teachers' salary when the teachers union renegotiates its contract next year. Dolan had favored the appropriation, citing that the town has offered similar increases to its union employees on the municipal side over the past few years. The council removed the $158,000 earmarked for that pay increase, citing that the school side would have to find a way to absorb/fund that increase on their own.

The 2014 budget will result in a 1.36 percent tax levy increase, raising home property taxes by $90 for the average home in North Kingstown – valued at $315,000. The tax rate will be around $19 per $1,000 assessed. The exact amount will be determined in late June once revaluations and the rax roll is completed. The tax rate will also be rising due to the fact that property values have dropped by about 6 percent since the last revaluation, said Embury.

2012-2013 Adopted Budget  2013-2014 Adopted Budget Difference General Fund $26,199,621 $26,383,500 +$183,879* School Fund $57,243,694 $58,407,891 +$1,164,297 Debt Service $5,484,654 $5,960,632 +$475,978 Library Fund $1,465,091 $1,465,886 +$795 Municipal Court $258,354 $262,313 $3,959 School Capital Reserve $0 $0 -- Water Fund $3,212,163 $3,137,455 -$74,708 Quonset/Davisville Recreation Fund $1,744,386 $1,828,817 +$84,431 TOTAL $95,607,925 $97,446,494

 

*$225,000 of the general fund appropriation comes from the town's surplus and will not be funded by additional taxpayer money.