Too bad the Mayor can’t ever get out of campaign mode
Too bad Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt is incapable of ever getting out of perpetual political campaign mode. Too bad the Mayor tries to govern by press release. Too bad the Mayor cannot accept that the election ended eight months ago and it is now time to put aside her propensity for petty politics. Too bad the Mayor cannot accept that we had an inauguration on December 6, not a coronation. Too bad the Mayor cannot accept that she is not the only elected official in the city and that she needs to actually work and collaborate with, not dictate to, those other elected officials. Too bad the Mayor cannot accept that she no longer has a rubber-stamp majority on the City Council that blindly bows to her every whim. Too bad the Mayor cannot understand that surrounding herself with “yes-men” is a recipe for failure. Too bad Mayor Baldelli-Hunt cries politics at every turn, but fails to grasp that politics is the art of compromise.
On May 12, 2017, the Mayor proposed a FY 2018 budget that called for $140.8 million in spending.
On May 31, 2017 a public hearing on the Mayor’s proposed budget was held so that the Mayor and the Council could hear from the public and the Mayor could answer the public’s questions. Too bad the mayor chose not to show up at the hearing and instead chose to ignore those that pay the budget’s tab.
On June 12, 2017, the Council held a work-session with the Administration to provide the Mayor and department heads an opportunity to present and explain their budget proposals to the Council.
On June 19, 2017, after having the Mayor’s proposed budget for well over a month, after hearing from the public, after hearing from the Mayor and department heads at the work-session and after spending a great deal of time analyzing the numbers and synthesizing the various inputs received from all stake-holders, a five-member majority of the Council passed a FY 2018 budget that provided a generous $139.9 million of spending, which was a mere 0.6% ($897,000) less than that requested by the Mayor. In short, the mayor received 99.4% of what she wanted, but that wasn’t good enough. In typical fashion, she immediately went into political campaign mode, complaining that the modest changes made by the Council were an “effort to flex their political will” and that the “gutted budget” passed by the Council was “very damaging” and would impede the work of our city departments. She vowed to veto the budget approved by the Council.
The Mayor’s reaction was unfortunate and, frankly, was an insult to the taxpaying public and the Council.
The Mayor has stated that FY 2017 has been a very good year. Well, the Council’s approved budget gave the Mayor everything she had in FY 2017 and then some. The Council approved budget provides, in part, the following:
• $6,330,000 for Healthcare for municipal employees and retirees, including Cumberland’s fire chief
• Salary increases for all but four employees, two of whom have been employed for less than six months
• Two additional police officers, bringing total staffing to 94
• Funding for a Public Works Director, an Engineer, an Engineering Assistant, a Highway Superintendent, a Water Superintendent, a Solid Waste Superintendent, a Wastewater Deputy Superintendent for Enforcement, and a Parks and Recreation Director
• $700,000 for road reconstruction and paving (an increase of $100,000 over FY 2017)
• $460,000 for Blight removal (which includes $160k for the long overdue removal of the blighted incinerator)
• $329,000 for equipment in the Police department, including several new cruisers
• $115,000 for new radios in the Fire department
• $71,000 for two new cardiac monitor defibrillators for the Fire department
• $110,000 for new generators at the Fire and Police departments
• $200,000 for a new equipment in the Public Works department
• $325,000 for Energy Conservation improvements, including window replacements
• $75,000 for Park Improvements beyond those funded by DEM
• $300,000 Surplus Reserve
• $690,000 of operating Contingency
In short, and contrary to the Mayor’s political rhetoric, the Council’s responsible budget provides funding for significant investments. But to the disappointment of the Mayor, the Council’s budget also makes a modest investment into the wallets of our over-burdened taxpayers by reducing the residential rate to $30.10 and the commercial rate to $36.93 – a reduction of $0.74 and $1.06, respectively, as compared to what the Mayor proposed.
Too bad the Mayor ignores the lesson learned from Mr. Donald Budnick, who told the Mayor that he was not purchasing the Walmart building because the taxes were more than double every other building he had under consideration. He instead purchased a building in East Providence. The Mayor’s answer to this glaring problem is to further increase our tax burden by proposing to foolishly spend $172,000 on an Economic Development department that would have to generate over $4.5 million of incremental assessment just to pay for itself. Mr. Budnick taught us that we need lower taxes, not more cheerleaders.
The Mayor said “anyone can make cuts.” She should know. As a State Rep., she supported massive cuts in state aid that crippled the City and helped usher in its fiscal nightmare. She then ignored the informed requests of the then Mayor, Council, and department heads, as well as state officials, stripping them of the tools they said they needed to keep the city afloat. Now, when the Council says “no” to just 0.6% of her requested budget, she acts as though the world is coming to an end.
Too bad the Mayor doesn’t spend more time trying to work and compromise with the Council as opposed to stomping her feet and issuing political press releases every time she doesn’t get 100% of what she wants. It’s easy to spend other people’s money. Too bad the Mayor doesn’t know the money she spends is not hers.