5/25/2021
Confusion over school cut
PAWTUCKET – A cut from a near-maximum 3.74 percent tax increase to 2.5 percent increase is “more palatable” to city taxpayers after multiple financial hits, said Councilor Mark Wildenhain, head of the council’s finance subcommittee.
Working with Mayor Donald Grebien’s administration, he said the council was able to find the cuts needed to lessen the burden, though there are still some unknown variables going forward.
The overall decrease in expenditures given initial approval by the council’s finance subcommittee and committee of the whole at its May 19 meeting is $1,191,284, including $421,884 in fire overtime and $734,400 in lower operating expenses, including $499,900 in funding to the schools, $200,000 in passive parks school chargebacks, $20,000 in sewer bills, $14,500 in audit fees, and a decrease in capital expenses for police communication equipment of $35,000.