April 24th, 2013 at 2:50 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Dan McGowan
The chairman of Providence’s most powerful City Council committee has landed a job with House Speaker Gordon Fox as a policy analyst, WPRI.com has learned.
Councilman David Salvatore, who heads up the council Ways and Means Committee, was hired April 22 and will earn $53,716 a year.
According to House spokesman Larry Berman, Salvatore will help House develop and implement policies, monitor current and potential legislation and research legislation in other states to develop policy and legislation in Rhode Island.
Salvatore previously worked as an unclaimed property administrator and a business processing manager in the general treasurer’s office, but was let go by Treasurer Gina Raimondo last year. Salvatore claimed his termination was a result of a pension reform op-ed he co-authored in The Providence Journal, but Raimondo called the accusation “absolutely untrue.” (more…)
March 28th, 2013 at 5:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Several members of the Providence City Council on Wednesday expressed initial support for Mayor Angel Taveras’s plan to freeze the commercial real estate tax for seven years, but said they would seek more details before fully endorsing the proposal.
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February 19th, 2013 at 5:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Federal funds for affordable housing in Providence have been suspended for more than a year as city officials continue to address “program deficiencies” uncovered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), WPRI.com has learned.
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February 13th, 2013 at 5:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The city’s law department has urged the City Council to reject accidental disability pension waiver requests from five former city employees, including a councilman’s mother, according to a memo obtained by WPRI.com.
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February 1st, 2013 at 11:32 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Dan McGowan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – While the Taveras administration maintains that Providence will finish the year with a balanced budget, internal auditor Matt Clarkin on Thursday said the city could end with an $11.2 million deficit if corrective actions aren’t taken in the coming months.
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May 8th, 2012 at 2:54 pm by Ted Nesi under General Talk, Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
The Providence City Council may be uncertain about the pension changes it just passed, but Moody’s isn’t.
“The ordinance is a credit positive because it provides current and future year budgetary relief to the financially strained city, although labor unions are likely to challenge the new law since it conflicts with existing collective bargaining agreements,” Moody’s analysts Susan Kendall and Geordie Thompson wrote Tuesday in a note to investors obtained by WPRI.com.
The pair described the pension overhaul as another sign that Mayor Angel Taveras and the City Council are taking difficult steps to avoid bankruptcy, saying it “demonstrates city management’s strong willingness to cut its long-term obligations despite resistance from employee groups and the threat of litigation.”
They also noted that last week Taveras reached deals with tax-exempts Brown University and Lifespan for an additional $33.9 million worth of payments over the coming years, which the administration “projects … will bring its 2012 and 2013 budgets into balance, although its reserve position and liquidity will remain weak.”
(more…)
May 7th, 2012 at 5:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Providence police union is threatening all-out war on Mayor Angel Taveras and the City Council for freezing retired officers’ pensions, labeling the elected officials “underhanded, despicable and heartless” for holding a crucial vote the night of a fallen officer’s wake.
“Their actions that night and the following Monday showed what we mean to them …………ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, JUST A NUMBER!!!!” the executive board of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #3 wrote members last week in an email obtained by WPRI.com. “The old saying ‘action speaks louder than words’ is so true, and their actions came through loud and clear and it sounded a lot like SCREW YOU!!!”
The City Council voted unanimously to approve the sweeping pension overhaul on April 26, the night before Sgt. Maxwell Dorley’s funeral. ”The audacity of the Mayor and City Council to do such a thing on the night that we waked one of our own, who died in the line of duty for this City is underhanded, despicable and heartless, and a slap in the face to all of us,” the police email said.
In a statement on Friday, Taveras told WPRI.com it had been “a very significant and emotional week for all who work in the city of Providence. Those who serve our city know better than most the history that led Providence into this crisis.” (more…)
May 4th, 2012 at 2:58 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
By Tim White and Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Providence City Councilman John Igliozzi has been ousted as chairman of the City Council Finance Committee, WPRI.com has learned.
Councilman Michael Correia confirmed the news on Friday afternoon after reporter Dan McGowan posted about it on Twitter. He said he thinks the decision was made by either Council President Michael Solomon or Council Majority Leader Seth Yurdin.
The finance committee will meet on Monday at 5 p.m. to elect a new chairman, according to notices filed with the secretary of state’s office. Earlier Friday, that meeting had been canceled and a vote had been scheduled for Tuesday, but amended agendas were filed around 3:30 p.m.
Councilman David Salvatore told WPRI.com he will give “serious thought this weekend” to whether he should seek the chairmanship. “The committee is moving in a new direction,” he said in an email. (more…)
May 3rd, 2012 at 4:57 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Providence City Council President Pro Tempore Terrence Hassett and his colleague Councilman John Igliozzi caused a major stir this afternoon by abruptly calling for major changes to the far-reaching pension ordinance they helped pass unanimously on Monday.
The two veteran Democrats want to scale back the ordinance’s freeze on cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), which actuaries estimate could save the city more than $15 million a year as officials scramble to avoid bankruptcy. They said they’re still working on a proposed amendment.
Hassett’s about-face is especially surprising considering he cast three separate votes in favor of the pension bill in recent weeks – one in committee and two as part of the full council – meaning just a few days ago he signed off on the same changes he now opposes.
“Pension reform is necessary, without question, but to severely challenge the financial security of police and fire personnel upon their retirement in such a dramatic manner is not what I am willing to permit,” Hassett said. Igliozzi characterized their actions as a “profile in courage,” GoLo’s Dan McGowan reported.
(more…)
April 30th, 2012 at 5:37 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
The Providence City Council voted 12-0 late Monday afternoon to approve a far-reaching overhaul of the city’s pension system, sending the ordinance to Mayor Angel Taveras for his signature.
The only change was an amendment that allows a review of the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) freeze every five years until the pension system is 70% funded, a city official said. Three members of the council – Michael Correia, Nicholas Narducci and Davian Sanchez – were absent for Monday’s second vote.
The all-Democratic council voted unanimously to approve the changes last Thursday, but its rules required a second affirmative vote to send the ordinance to the mayor’s desk. Taveras is expected to sign it soon.
Update: Taveras signed the pension ordinance Monday evening at Beneficent Church on Weybosset Street, his office said. He was joined at a youth event there by Council President Michael Solomon, Council Majority Leader Seth Yurdin and Councilman David Salvatore, who oversaw the review that led to the changes.
Kathryn Sotnik contributed to this report.
(photo: Angel Taveras)
April 26th, 2012 at 5:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
A far-reaching city pension overhaul that’s backed by Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and could be approved Thursday night has won the support of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber sent an email to its members Wednesday urging them to lobby their councilors in favor of the plan. The changes, which would suspend cost-of-living adjustments for an estimated 24 years, “are vital to ensuring the Capital City’s solvency and the vibrancy of its business community,” the Chamber said.
The seven recommendations made by the council’s pension subcommittee have been moving forward rapidly since they were unveiled last Thursday. (The subcommittee’s report is available as a PDF.) Taveras embraced them in his budget address on Monday and two council committees approved them Tuesday night.
“The Chamber is urging support for these reforms because the savings plan … provides sustainable and long term reform solutions that will put Providence in a position to make fiscally responsible choices and create a strong foundation for job growth and enhanced economic development,” the email said.
Rosemary Booth Gallogly, the state director of revenue who has worked closely with city officials throughout its financial crisis, said Wednesday she’s reviewed the plan. ”They’ve certainly done their diligence,” Gallogly told WPRI.com. “They’ve obviously spent a lot of time with the actuary, with the numbers.”
The pension changes will take effect July 1 if the council approves them and Taveras signs them into law. It’s likely public-sector unions or retirees would challenge the move in court. Actuaries say the changes would reduce the city’s $901 million pension shortfall by at least $236 million.
• Related: Raimondo, RISC weigh in on Providence’s pension proposals (April 23)
April 24th, 2012 at 4:54 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
That didn’t take long.
The Providence City Council’s special pension subcommittee will meet at 5 p.m. at City Hall to vote on an ordinance implementing its recommendations for changing the pension system, including a multi-decade freeze on cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), according to an agenda filed with the secretary of state’s office.
The Committee on Ordinances will meet immediately after the subcommittee is done to cast its own votes on the pension proposal, its agenda shows. That would put the measure on the fast track for approval by the full council and getting signed into law by Mayor Angel Taveras, who supports the changes.
City Council President Michael Solomon said Monday he expects the council to back the pension proposal.
Update: Both committees passed all the ordinances unanimously, according to a news release. The full City Council is now scheduled to vote on them at a special meeting this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Should be a big night.
• Related: Providence pension panel says suspend COLAs, cap benefits (April 19)
April 19th, 2012 at 8:33 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
This is the ballgame, folks.
After six months of work, the Providence City Council’s Subcommittee on Pension Sustainability released an inch-thick report Thursday night on the capital’s cash-strapped employee retirement system. The key section is this table on page 35 laying out the panel’s seven recommendations on how to stabilize the system:
Councilman David Salvatore, who has chaired the subcommittee since it was established in October, told WPRI.com he is hopeful the panel and then the full council will pass all seven recommendations. ”This isn’t about changing the rules; this is about preserving the retirement system,” he said. “If we do not make these substantive changes, there will not be a pension system for [retirees] one day.”
If the City Council approves the recommendations, it would almost certainly kick off a legal fight over whether the city government has the authority to do so, a question that probably will be answered by the Rhode Island Supreme Court in the end. If the courts eventually rule against the city and say retirement benefits cannot be changed, Providence will likely be forced to file for bankruptcy.
“We’re confident that it will be upheld in the courts,” Salvatore said. “There is a compelling public purpose argument that we are sticking to. It’s very different from 10 years ago, when this was [last] brought to court – the state of the city’s finances. We’re in dire straits. We’re confident that it will be upheld.”
• Related: Chart: The decline and fall of the Providence pension system (Jan. 25)
November 28th, 2011 at 9:05 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Providence’s pension system has been around for 88 years, but the bulk of its huge funding shortfall stems from “a comedy of errors” that took place between 1983 and the mid-1990s, a former city official said Monday.
The General Assembly created and controlled Providence’s pension system from its creation in 1923 until the city got home rule in 1983. But the decade that followed saw a series of mistakes that have now thrown it into financial jeopardy, former City Solicitor Charles Mansolillo told a special City Council subcommittee studying the problem.
The focus at Monday’s hearing was mostly on the past – particularly how the city wound up boosting the pension checks of many retirees with 6% and 5% COLAs, compounded annually. “It was just a comedy of errors of misreading decisions by the court,” Mansolillo said.
Donald Iannazzi, business manager for Local 1033 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the city’s largest union, suggested the city may need to join the state-run MERS pension system and called on officials to come up with a solution by July 1.
Read the rest of this story »
(photo: Ted Nesi/WPRI)
November 16th, 2011 at 6:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
Council President Solomon
By Ted Nesi
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Providence Community Action Program’s embattled leader donated money to Mayor Angel Taveras and City Council President Michael Solomon in recent months even as they examined alleged financial improprieties at his agency.
Taveras, however, didn’t keep the $150 contribution made to his campaign account on June 1 by ProCAP executive director Frank Corbishley. The mayor refunded the money less than three weeks later, on June 18, according to Board of Elections records.
Corbishley donated $150 to Solomon on Sept. 30, the last day for which filings are currently available. Solomon, who oversees ProCAP as chairman of its board of directors, also took a $125 contribution from the taxpayer-funded nonprofit’s longtime executive director in late 2009.
Solomon is just one of seven top Rhode Island Democrats who collected a combined $4,290 in political contributions over the past nine years from ProCAP’s executive director, who is now accused of allowing “staggering mismanagement” of the nonprofit’s finances. Taveras is the only politician who gave Corbishley his money back.
(more…)
November 5th, 2011 at 9:42 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
By Tim White
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Providence City Councilman Michael J. Correia was injured in a hit-and-run accident on Saturday evening but is now out of the hospital, WPRI.com has confirmed.
In a telephone interview, Correia said he was hit by a car around 6 p.m. while getting back into his car in the 800 block on Atwells Avenue.
Correia was thrown 10 feet from his car and knocked out by the blow from the vehicle, which was described as a dark-colored Ford Escape SUV, according to Correia’s family members and Providence Acting Police Chief Hugh Clements Jr.
“I’m very lucky,” Correia told WPRI.com. He was treated at Rhode Island Hospital and then released, and is now resting with his family members.
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October 7th, 2011 at 6:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
Providence City Council President Michael Solomon unveiled a special committee to tackle pensions on Thursday – the most tangible sign yet that city leaders plan to make the hot-button issue a major policy priority of their own this fiscal year.
“We’re struggling to make sure our pension system survives,” Mayor Angel Taveras said Wednesday at Common Cause Rhode Island’s annual meeting.
Solomon asked the new special Subcommittee on Pension Sustainability’s five members – David Salvatore, Michael Correia, Samuel Zurier, Sabina Matos, and Council Majority Leader Seth Yurdin - to come up with recommendations to address the city’s unfunded pension liability as well as its troubled disability pension system.
It’s no small set of problems. The city’s locally run pension system – which won’t get much help from the forthcoming Raimondo-Chafee bill – has an $829 million unfunded liability, leaving it just 34% funded, according to the city’s actuary, Buck Consultants.
That doesn’t include an even larger $1.5 billion unfunded liability for retiree health care – though that amount could shrink after Taveras got the General Assembly to pass legislation allowing him to force retirees to sign up for Medicare.
(more…)
July 15th, 2011 at 9:02 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
Mount Pleasant High School
The Providence City Council gave preliminary approval last night to the city budget for the new fiscal year that started July 1. The Projo’s Phil Marcelo has a thorough overview of the budget, including a big hike in the car tax that’s going to affect a lot of drivers.
Mayor Taveras released a statement after the council vote that included this line: “We also owe great thanks to the members of Local 1033, firefighters, police, city employees, residents and taxpayers who all share deeply in the sacrifice needed to save our city.”
Missing from that roll call are Providence’s teachers – the last big group of city workers who haven’t reached a deal on concessions with the administration.
On first glance, that looks like a bad sign. But looks can be deceiving.
Taveras spokeswoman Melissa Withers declined to comment on the substance of negotiations between the teachers union and the mayor’s office except to describe them as “ongoing.” However, she confirmed that the budget passed by the council includes all the savings expected from an agreement with the teachers.
It’s unlikely the councilmen would have passed the budget if they weren’t confident there will be a deal, and Withers did not sound particularly worried. So an announcement could be coming before long.
(photo: Providence Public Schools)
April 19th, 2011 at 3:04 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes
Tim White and I got our hands on an advance summary of the report the Providence City Council will receive from its fiscal advisor Gary Sasse and Internal Auditor Matt Clarkin about how the city got into its present financial mess. If the report is anything like the summary, it’s going to have a lot more finger-pointing than the one delivered to Mayor Taveras last month.
Our story is up now – here’s the opening:
The “dysfunctional financial management” of former Providence Mayor David Cicilline’s administration “severely worsened” the city’s problems after a severe recession and deep cuts in state aid, a report commissioned by the City Council has found.
Cicilline’s team “did not honestly assess or address these fiscal challenges” before leaving office in January, Gary Sasse and Matt Clarkin write in the summary, which was obtained by WPRI.com. The full report is scheduled to be released Wednesday morning.
The report also faults the City Council for “deficiencies” in its oversight and monitoring of Providence’s finances. Mayor Angel Taveras has said the city faces a “Category 5″ financial emergency, with a budget shortfall projected at $139 million between now and the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2012.
Read the rest on WPRI.com. By coincidence, I’m sitting with Cicilline this afternoon for an interview, so I’ll update later with his reaction to the report’s findings.
January 3rd, 2011 at 12:29 pm by Ted Nesi under General Talk
Tim White is on the scene at the Providence City Council’s swearing-in ceremony and sent along this photograph. Ward 12 Councilman Terrence Hassett, who was severely injured in an October hit-and-run accident, was on hand to take his oath. He’s seated in a wheelchair on the right side of the dias:
Michael Solomon was elected the City Council’s new president, while Hassett was elected its president pro tempore, “to much applause,” WRNI’s Ian Donnis reports on Twitter; for more on what’s happening at the council, check out this post he wrote.
Update: Tim’s story on what’s being described as a “miracle” return by Hassett is up on WPRI.com.
