City budget hearing on quiet side
WOONSOCKET — It’s probably safe to say it was the first budget hearing in which anyone has ever uttered the term “force-muted,” but hey, as Councilman David Soucy observed, “It’s a whole new era, friends.”
Which is to say, Tuesday’s night’s ritual airing of the annual budget wasn’t much of a hearing at all – in more ways than one. First of all, the “public” gathering sponsored by the City Council took place via the remote videoconferencing app Zoom, and it lasted less than five minutes because no one in virtual attendance offered any feedback or comments on Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt’s proposed $152.2 million spending plan for the fiscal year beginning on July 1.
Members of the council seemed so surprised by the paucity of participation that it prompted the city’s IT consultant, Michael O’Connell of Boston-based Apex Technology Group, to double-check the audio feed to make sure spectators could be heard.
“I have not force-muted anyone,” he said. “The only people who are muted now have done so themselves.”
Although they weren’t visible to viewers, about 10 city officials – other than councilors – and members of the general public had logged onto the meeting – a figure that’s comparable with normal budget hearings of the recent past, said City
Clerk Christina Harmon.
Given the pattern, it’s unlikely that the sparse participation was due solely to unfamiliarity with the technology – which is, incidentally, compliant with the prevailing state of the Open Meetings Act, as modified for the socially-distant era of COVID-19 by Gov. Gina Raimondo. Calling for the fifth tax decrease in some form in as many years, the budget also isn’t the kind of spending plan that tends to get people grousing about overspending.
The proposal now heads to the council for consideration of the various ordinances that comprise the budget on Monday night. The council has broad powers to increase or decrease the proposed level of spending the mayor proposes.
But even if the council does nothing, all residential and commercial property owners, including small businesses, would see their tax rates reduced by 1 percent next fiscal year.
The rollbacks would result in a proposed residential tax rate of $23.85 per thousand dollars, a reduction of 23 cents; and a commercial rate of $35.55 per thousand, a reduction of 35 cents.
Add in the homestead exemption, which allows homeowners to write off of up to 30 percent of the worth of their dwellings, and effective tax rates for residential property are as low as $17.89 per thousand. At that rate, the owner of single-family home valued at $150,000 would owe $2,683 in property taxes in fiscal 2021.
In a message to taxpayers accompanying her release of the budget earlier this month, Baldelli-Hunt framed the spending plan as a relief package of sorts to residents and business owners who’ve been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning Monday, many non-essential retailers, including hair salons, barbershops and fitness centers will be allowed to operate more normally than at any time since mid-March after Raimondo closed them down in attempts to rob COVID-19 of the social gatherings it thrives on. Restaurants, too, which have been limited to delivery and pickup services, will be allowed to welcome patrons back into their dining rooms.
The force-freeze on the economy has left tens of thousands of workers out of a job, with claims for unemployment benefits reaching levels that are eclipsing those of any other recession or crash in history.
“We are living in unprecedented times and this proposed Fiscal Year 2021 budget was developed to reflect the economic and social pain experienced by our residents due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Baldelli-Hunt said. “Because many of our residents are hurting economically right now, I desperately wanted to present a budget that cut property taxes for our residential and commercial taxpayers.”