By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET - As expected, the Pawtucket City Council on Wednesday night gave second passage to a $203 million FY '09 budget that increases residential taxes by 4.5 percent and requires concessions on the part of many municipal employees.

The increased property tax rates will be reflected in the tax bills that will be mailed out at the end of the month. The new residential rate will jump by 53 cents, from the current $11.86 per $1,000 to $12.39 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. For the average Pawtucket homeowner, the increase will be about $122 a year. The new commercial rate will rise by 90 cents, going from the current $19.98 to $20.88 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Following a public hearing, the City Council voted 7 to 1 to adopt the budget, which had been amended at the June 4 meeting. The original budget that was crafted by the Doyle Administration had required a tax increase of 59 cents per $1,000. The council voted last week to toss out a 2 percent salary increase that had been earmarked for municipal employees in Locals 1012 and 3960 - a move that saved $309,000 and trimmed an additional six cents off the property tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The amended budget provides $108.5 million for municipal services and $94.5 million for the public schools. The spending plan calls for a 2.5 percent increase in the tax levy - or overall tax collections. That's slightly less than the 2.9 percent levy increase contained in the mayor's original proposal. Finance Director Ronald Wunschel noted that it is significantly less than the state-mandated 5 percent tax cap that has been placed on the tax levy - the amount that the state assesses on the total taxes that are collected each year. For next year's budget, the cap drops to 4.8 percent.
The budget also includes the first payment of four annual installments of $756,000 that have been designed to pay off a $3 million School Department deficit that was accumulated mostly during the past year.
Several councilors commented that they had approved the budget with reluctance, and only after considering that further reductions would have cut too deeply into city services and programs. The budget is based on a savings of $643,836 achieved through layoffs and $321,918 through furloughs (shortened work weeks), as well as other concessions such as increased health care co-payments.
Councilor Donald Grebien, the lone vote against the budget, still maintained that the plan should have been reduced by 10 percent across-the-board, in keeping with the spirit of the cuts made by the governor at the state level.
Grebien also argued against the council's support of the school deficit reduction plan, noting that the amount that was approved for the schools for the coming year is based on revenue only and does not reflect the $2.5 million in actual funding that the school department will need to operate, thus creating a total deficit picture closer to $5.5 million by the end of FY09.
Also on Wednesday, the council approved the second passage of a capital budget ordinance for fiscal year 2008-2009 that totals $4.1 million. This figure includes the $3 million that is used to fund capital improvements along with $1.1 million for the new animal shelter that was approved by voters in the November 2006 referendum. Additionally, second passage was given to a five-year capital improvement program that will allow the city to bond $3 million a year for fiscal years 2009-2013.
In other matters, the City Council voted 8-0 to pass an agreement between the city and the police union establishing a "window" for employees of the police division eligible to retire as of this June 30 to be able to retire with the pension and medical insurance benefits that are set forth in the current collective bargaining agreement which expires as of June 30.
With the "evergreen clause" as it is commonly referred, there were indications that there could be a mass exodus of experienced police officers because of the uncertainty over retirement benefits in any future negotiated agreement. According to several reports, as many as 10 police officers who are represented by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) had recently indicated they would retire before the current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30 due to the concerns about their benefits.
The agreement now holds that, in the event that a negotiated contract has not been signed and approved by the City Council before July 1, 2008, or if an arbitration award is not rendered before that date, FOP members covered under the collective bargaining agreement and eligible to retire as of June 30, 2008 shall be permitted to retire with the same health insurance and pension benefits of the current agreement as long as they retire within 60 days after the city council approves any negotiated contract or within 60 days after any arbitration award for the 2008-2009 collective bargaining agreement.
Also, the council approved a resolution authorizing a five-year tax stabilization plan for property owned by Morris Nathanson at 163 Exchange St., and gave second passage to an amendment to an ordinance regarding snow and ice removal.

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