City Finance Director Reviewing Warwick Schools Spending Till April 21

WARWICK, RI — The law enabling a Budget Commission for the school department took effect Thursday, but Mayor Frank Picozzi’s appointees won’t be confirmed till April 21, so  Finance Director Peder Schaefer must approve Warwick Schools spending until then.

According to Interim Superintendent  William McCaffrey, the law establishing the Warwick Schools Budget Commission took effect Thursday, April 3,  after it was approved in both chambers of the General Assembly. The School Department’s appointee, Joseph Crowley, retired director of the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, and School Committee Chairman Shaun Galligan’s appointtee, Sherri Kuntze, audit Manager at Cavanagh CPAs & Associates, are each official members of the Budget Commission. But Mayor Frank Picozzi’s appointees must be confirmed by the Warwick City Council.

According to Elizabeth Tufts, Picozzi’s media coordinator, the mayor’s appointees will be announced later this week. Confirmation of the appointments will be before the Council for approval April 21.

“I’m unsure why the Mayor is waiting until April 21 to have his appointments confirmed,” Galligan wrote when asked about the confirmations. “Quite frankly, they should have already been confirmed in preparation for this legislation to pass; had it not passed, there would not have been any harm in confirming the appointments – they would have simply not begun to work. The mayor on Jan. 22 and Feb. 5 stated that time was of the essence and it was important to enact his legislative request, yet now he is not proactive in having his appointments be confirmed, calling into question if this whole thing was political in nature, at the expense of educational quality for kids.”

Warwick Schools Spending cleared by City Finance Director

Until April 21, the budget commission law, (2025-S 0242) allows Warwick Schools spending decisions, “in the case of an emergency,”  to be approved by Warwick Finance Director Peder Schaefer, which Tufts said the city will follow.

Galligan said that workaround also violates the Warwick Schools Budget Commission law, which doesn’t allow Schaefer to approve day-to-day operations.

“Though I am happy the day-to-day expenditures, to include payroll, will be addressed, the city per their instructions, are violating the very law they requested. All expenditures relative to general operating funds must be approved by the Budget Commission; the Director of Finance can only be utilized for emergency expenditures. This poorly written legislation and commission has been botched from the start, calling into question its future success. Though, I remain hopeful that they will be successful,” Galligan wrote.

McCaffrey said Peder’s sign-off is an extra step the School Department has not had to factor in to its budgeting or operations in the past, and that there is no previous experience to gauge how it will affect school operations.

“We’re in uncharted waters,” McCaffrey said, ” adding, “We’re looking forward to working with everyone to solve the problem.”

That problem is a deficit, intially reported at about $9 million, later cut by the Warwick School Committee to $3.1 million as of Feb. 11. The process of cutting the budget and votes on establishing the Budget Commission by a special meeting of the Warwick City Council, House and Senate ran concurrently.

Galligan said a special meeting could also be called for the confirmations.

“The mayor called for a special meeting of the council for the legislation – if he was very concerned about the situation, and confident that this commission could resolve the issues, one would think that he would be calling for another special meeting to immediately confirm his appointments, or, already have had his appointments confirmed weeks ago – yet, he is awaiting another two weeks. I cannot wrap my head around this, and feel horribly for everyone in the state legislature who stuck their necks out on his behalf to pass it,” Galligan said

McCaffrey said the School Department has been rebuilding its finance team since the resignation of Schools Finance Director Brandon Bohl Feb. 19.

Craig Enos, finance director of the East Providence School Department, has been hired as the new Schools Finance Director. The district has also hired a new controller, Yarmayn Rodriguez, and an assistant controller, Caryle Vincent. The new team and the administration is doing everything it can to put the district’s finances in order, he said.