Council OKs $380M FY26 Budget, $196M for Schools

WARWICK, RI — The Warwick City Council voted 8-1 approving Mayor Frank Picozzi’s $380M FY26 budget, with some amendments moving funds from line items into the paving budget, without altering the bottom line, extra school funds or estimated tax rates.

Picozzi’s original proposal included roughly $194 million for Warwick Schools, about $3,719.153 less than the school department’s $198,162,060 budget request. Thanks in part to the Warwick City Councilman Ed Ladouceur’s keen eye, about $1.7 million in the budget was found that could be re-allocated to schools, Council President Anthony Sinapi said.

The amended school budget is now $196,228,049, still $1,934,011 short of the school department’s $198,162,060 budget ask.

But, Ladoucuer said, he learned during Wednesday’s School Budget Commission meeting that the district may realize about $2 million in savings from healthcare costs and an excess $500,000 in the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) payroll tax account.

The surplus funds were taken from line items in amendments Picozzi made to the budget during the first budget hearing Monday night, acting on Ladocuer’s input.

“That’s in part why the School Department was able to get more funds,” Sinapi said.

Even so, Ladoucuer cast the sole vote against the final budget.

“I am not going to be able to support this budget and part of that is due to the hand we’ve been delivered,” Ladouceur said. He said contracts and other unavoidable increases had been combined with what he saw as missed opportunities to avoid costs he had tried to implement. Among those moves were health care co-pays and eliminating free lifetime healthcare for new hires, which failed twice. Also, he said he is not convinced two new high schools was necessary.

“Spending is out of control,” he said.

The amended budget, with the additional school spending, passed 8-1.

Prior to that vote, the Council made a number of changes to the budget, moving funds from various line items into the paving budget. Those amendments were

• 30-105 Police Salaries, Crossing Guards, 130,000, reduced by $6,000, leaving 124,000.
• 30-271 Police Station Radios, 180,000, increased by $6,000, to $186,000
• 35- 105 Fire Salaries Fire 2,  $4,431,288, reduced by 19,723,598 red 125,768 to
• 35-310 – Fire-Rent,  increased by $125,768 for a total of $125,768
• 35-799 – Fire misc. capital expenditure, $1,875,00,  reduced to $325,000
• 44-101 – Apponaug rink salaries,  $263,246 – reduced $75,000, to $188,246
• 63-101 – Pulic Works hiugh way salaries, $3,555,205, reduced by $235,140 to $3,320,065
• 63-380 DPW highway gen services, $850, increased by $90,000 to $90,850
• 70-244 DPW Field Maintenance Propane Gas, $10,000, reduced by $7,500 to $2,500
• 70-304 DPW Field Maint. Nat. Gas, $20K red by $7500 to $12,500
• 89-000 School Department, $194,442,909, increased 1,785,140 to $196,228,049

The amendments, voted on together in an omnibus package, passed unanimously with 9 yes votes. Another four amendments were made before the final vote on the budget as a whole, as amended:

• Councilman Jeremy Rix: Transfer $45,000 from board of canvassers, 17-495, to Police line item 30-140, WPD NITE Program, increasing the line item to 90,000, leaving $10,00 in the canvassers line item. program’s resources are divided equally across each of the city’s nine wards to address a variety of traffic related complaints and concerns.  Officers conduct four-hour details during various days/times within target specific areas in an effort to combat a traffic problem such as speeding/stop sign violations.
• Ladouceur proposed adding the remaining $10,000 to the asphalt budget.

“I think its important to try to avoid reducing services that provide particular value to constituents,” Rix said of his amendment. In Ward 2, he said, the big issue is safety and traffic enforcement.

“It’s most definitely a top 10 issue, possible a top 5 issue,” Rix said.

The program is very effective in changing behavior on the road, he said.

“Drivers start to get a little more conscientious about how they’re driving through our neighborhoods.” Rix said that while the Board of Canvassers wanted the line item funds in case there is more than one special election this year, a second is special election, he said, would be “quite speculative.”

Councilman Vinny Gebhart reminded his colleagues that there’s an expected $4 million coming from new speed cameras, which will also be a deterrent for reckless drivers.

“There will be significant behavior change that comes with that,” Gebhart said. Also, he said, the highway department didn’t consume the entire paving budget from last year.

Councilman Bryan Nappa said that spending was influenced by new councilors’ lack of understanding it was available.

Picozzi noted the city has a contingency fund in case there’s need for second special election, so the funds will be available if they’re needed, even with the reallocation.

The amendment, with Ladouceur’s adjustment, passed 9-0.

Ladouceur -70-224 – DPW Field Maint electricity,  $85,000, reduced  by $20,000 to $55,000, moving it to 63-290, DPW asphalt crack sealing for a total of $90,000.

The amendment passed 9-0.

Ladoceur – increase fire misc. expenditures capital to schools $1,785,140 to reduce schools, 89-000, by that amount to put it in to 18-400, finance contingency.

Ladouceur said the Budget Commission is still looking into expenses and revenue for the department. Moving the additional funding to the schools prior to the Budget Commission’s full report isn’t appropriate, he said.  At Wednesday’s Budget Commission meeting, Commission members reported the FICA and healthcare savings may close the gap without the additional city funds.

“The concern is the more monies that are put over into the school department, the more that is spent,” Ladouceur said, on a department that has spent three years with unbalanced budget. Lacouceur also noted that the school department has already spent $200,000 of a $700,000 software program line item, without using the softward. Eliminating the line item would refund about $400,000 to the schools, he said. He said these unknown savings may result in a better balanced department without the need of more city support. He isn’t against giving the schools the funding, he said, “Im just against moving it there now.”

“There are definitely some variables that are up in the air. Unfortunately, it goes in both directions.” hope that we go forward with the mayor’s request, and have a supplemental fund ready to go.

Gebhart disagreed, saying it was better to err on the side of caution, rather than assume accounting errors will solve the deficit.

“We want to be in good shape going forward so that we don’t keep coming back here and having the same problem,” he said.

Sinapi also cautioned against caution signaling mistrust. “We say we trust the school department’s efforts and we say we trust the new direction of the superintendent’s efforts since becoming superintendent, and the incoming finance department. I say we demonstrate that we do in fact trust rather than just saying we do,” Sinapi said.

Rix agreed that supporting the additional funding to the schools would be a good faith demonstration.

The measure to  move the funds to a finance contingency line item failed 8-1, with only Ladoceur voting for it.

With all the amendments decided, the Council moved to vote on the budget as amended, approving it 8-0, with Lacouceur the sole vote against. With the bottom line spending unchanged, the estimated tax rates, announced May with the release of Picozzi’s proposed budget:

The FY26 rates would be:

• Residential to decrease from $14.47 to $13.34
• Commercial to increase slightly from $25.32 to $25.45
• Tangible property, set by state law, to remain at $37.46