OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

North Kingstown Town Council Meeting: Budget and ARPA Presentation, March 4, 2024

Town Council — Monday, March 4, 2024
BodyNorth Kingstown, Rhode Island
SessionTown Council
DateMonday, March 4, 2024
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 44:06

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

And Ryan Park.

0:01

Thanks, Adam.

0:03

I think we are now streaming.

0:06

Perfect timing.

0:08

Thanks for asking that question.

0:09

Perfect.

0:10

Do you want to get confirmation?

0:12

I do, please.

0:13

All right.

0:14

I guess we'll just sit right here for a minute till you get confirmation.

0:17

I am also going to need Brandon put to put the um slide presentation up.

0:22

I know we ran downstairs.

0:48

Brandon, are we all set?

0:51

He said he said it should be all set, but I wanted to make sure it was actually streaming.

1:00

Excellent.

1:01

Thank you.

1:02

Brandon, can you get the um the first slide presentation up?

1:04

I know Mike was going to do that, but thank you.

1:07

Appreciate that.

1:08

While Brandon does that, let me just make uh a couple of comments about where.

1:14

We uh for people who are trying to watch us uh via streaming, uh we apologize.

1:20

Uh we have technical difficulties in um I guess now we are up and running and you can uh follow this meeting.

1:28

Uh today uh so far in the meeting we went through our uh consent agenda and public comment and the manager report.

1:36

And now um we are gonna now the town manager is going to present the council and the public at large with his budget and also presentation of Opera funds.

1:47

Uh in addition, uh Council Matt McCoy is not here tonight because he is in Washington, D.C.

1:53

advocating uh behalf of the VFW to our delegation.

1:58

Um I think that's it.

2:00

I don't know if anyone else has any Did I miss anything?

2:04

Okay.

2:05

Thank you.

2:06

Um Mr.

2:09

Town Manager, uh whenever you are ready.

2:20

Thank you, Mr.

2:20

President, Councilmember.

2:21

So I'll be making two um presentations tonight.

2:23

First is my annual budget message with some brief slides, and then um to complement that we'll be talking about the opera plan.

2:31

Um the opera plan I'll be asking for you to accept and place it on file, and hopefully we can discuss this during the March 11th and 12th hearing.

2:40

So in accordance with the charter of the town of North Kingstown, I am hereby submitting the proposed annual budget for fiscal year June 30th, 2025 to the Honorable Town Council.

2:50

The fiscal year 2025 budget reflects a zero-based budgeting process as required by the town council.

2:56

I want to recognize the dedication of our department heads as they have compiled departmental budgets, which provide outstanding and exciting services and initiatives while avoiding adverse financial impact on our taxpayers.

3:07

And I also want to thank the team of department heads who are here this evening to join us as they will be again on the 11th and 12th and then our April public hearing.

3:14

I also want to thank our dedicated workforce for their hard work.

3:18

Uh, the employees of our town have established a reputation of responsiveness and compassion for our residents and businesses while being effective and efficient.

3:26

The budget that I'm presenting for fiscal year 2025 continues the award-winning format we designed and introduced six years ago.

3:33

Uh, this format is informative, it's transparent, and it's easy to follow for our residents.

3:40

The fiscal year 2025 budget achieves the goals set by this administration and the town council of maintaining the tax rates at their current level.

3:48

Uh this you see that our current tax rates.

3:51

This is something new.

3:52

We're actually uh we're showing that while we do have a $14.34 for residential, in reality, a majority of the residential enjoy the homestead exemption, which their rate is actually $13.62.

4:05

This no tax increase proposal coupled with the 5% homestead exemption, which I just talked about, adopted in fiscal year 2023.

4:12

The phase out of the motor vehicle tax and the recent prop uh personal property tax exemption provide significant tax relief to our residents and our businesses.

4:24

Proposal the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget provides an increase of 2.6 percent to the municipal portion of the budget.

4:32

And by municipal portion, that's inclusive of the school and town debt service as well, because as we know, the town pays for the school debt.

4:39

By the way, this is this page right here is a summary of page 67 on the budget booklet, which will be available online uh to the public.

4:49

This is this also includes virtual level funding of the library due to the budget reduction in library state aid, and a 5.1 percent increase to the school department budget, which is inclusive of the town appropriation and state aid.

5:04

The fiscal year 2025 budget funds an award-winning school district, an extent extensive senior center services, responsive and outstanding public safety, outstanding municipal operations, maintenance of over 150 miles of paved roads, parks and playgrounds that are the envy of the region, economic development, and maintenance of over 200,000 square feet of municipal buildings.

5:27

A detailed, informative and transparent summary of all expenditures can be found within the budget book that the council has and again will be available online after tonight's meeting.

5:39

The fiscal year 2025 proposed budget also allocates funding towards our award-winning and vital enterprise funds.

5:46

These funds are self-supporting and funded outside of the general fund.

5:50

What that means is that they are funded through the fees of the users.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget Equity Analysis███████████████████████████████████████39%
Procedural████████████████████20%
Fiscal Sustainability██████████10%
Public Works███████7%
Hazard Mitigation██████6%
Public Comment█████5%
Public Assistance Programs████4%
Public Safety████4%
Land Use Planning███3%
Summary of Proceedings

North Kingstown Town Council Meeting - March 4, 2024

The North Kingstown Town Council convened on Monday, March 4, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. following an executive session. The meeting primarily featured the Town Manager's presentation of the preliminary FY2025 budget, which proposes no tax increase, and a proposal for allocating remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The council also received an update on the Community Rating System (CRS) and Hazard Mitigation Plan and made several board appointments.

Consent Calendar

  • All items on the consent agenda (Items 6 through 18) were approved unanimously without discussion. These included routine approvals such as minutes, donations, a payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement, acceptance of an Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant, purchases of a fire command vehicle and public works equipment, contract awards for a hazard mitigation plan update, and several business licenses.

Discussion Items

  • Town Manager's Preliminary FY2025 Budget: Town Manager Ralph presented the proposed budget for fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Key features include:

    • A 2.6% increase in the municipal portion (including town and school debt service) and a 4.04% total budget increase without raising tax rates. The residential tax rate remains at $14.34, with a 5% homestead exemption effective rate of $13.62.
    • A 3.1% increase in the town appropriation to the school department (from a requested 4.5% increase), resulting in a total school budget increase of 5.1% when including state aid.
    • Revenue growth driven by increased PILOT payments from Quonset Development Corporation, improved tax collection rates, aggressive investment returns due to higher interest rates, and fee adjustments.
    • No capital appropriation for school infrastructure; the Manager committed to working with the Superintendent on a bond question and alternative short-term solutions.
    • The budget funds ongoing projects such as the 350th anniversary celebration, municipal building renovation, Yorktown Park, road paving, and the Wickford Waterfront Streetscape project.
    • Council members commended the Manager for the detailed, transparent budget and the lack of a tax increase. Questions were answered regarding the sources of revenue growth.

  • ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) Fund Allocation: The Town Manager presented a follow-up proposal for the remaining $2.9 million of North Kingstown's $7.87 million ARPA allocation. To date, $4.9 million has been spent or committed, including $1.25 million for municipal building renovations, $1.95 million for park improvements, and $750,000 for OPEB obligations. The new proposal includes:

    • $238,385 for a dump truck with plow.
    • $238,680 for four police vehicles.
    • $800,000 for Yorktown Park renovations.
    • $1,668,980 for the Wickford Waterfront Streetscape (municipal parking lot) project, filling a funding gap after grants and budget contributions.
    • A remaining contingency of approximately $16,000.
    • The Manager also noted unfunded needs outside ARPA, including design costs for a public safety complex, public works vehicles, Signal Rock renovations, a police simulation training system, and Allen Harbor dredging.
    • Council members expressed general support for the balanced proposal and agreed to discuss it further at the March 12 budget session.

  • Community Rating System (CRS) and Hazard Mitigation Plan Update: Nicole from the Planning Department provided an update on the CRS program, which provides flood insurance discounts. North Kingstown currently holds a Class 9 rating. There are 1,130 buildings in flood-prone areas, but only 502 flood insurance policies are in effect. The town has been unable to improve its rating due to issues with elevation certificates. The Hazard Mitigation Plan update is ongoing and consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The council received and filed the reports.

Key Outcomes

  • Appointments:
    • David Feeney was appointed to the Conservation Commission (term to March 1, 2025).
    • Jack Lees was appointed as a Second Alternate to the Zoning Board of Review (filling the unexpired term of Edwin Andrews).
    • Three vacancies on the Arts Council and one on the Economic Development Advisory Board were re-advertised due to lack of completed applications.
    • Three vacancies on the Veterans Day & Memorial Day Parades Committee were re-advertised.
  • Correspondence: The clerk read correspondence received, including emails urging no tax increase and concerns about school safety, veterans scholarship committees, and a public safety complex. Council member Mandel reported that a resident advocated for a public safety complex proposal.
  • Next Steps: The council will hold department-by-department budget hearings on March 11 (evening) and March 12 (all day), with expected adoption of a preliminary budget on March 12. The ARPA plan will be discussed further at that session. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for April 3.

Meeting Transcript

And Ryan Park. Thanks, Adam. I think we are now streaming. Perfect timing. Thanks for asking that question. Perfect. Do you want to get confirmation? I do, please. All right. I guess we'll just sit right here for a minute till you get confirmation. I am also going to need Brandon put to put the um slide presentation up. I know we ran downstairs. Brandon, are we all set? He said he said it should be all set, but I wanted to make sure it was actually streaming. Excellent. Thank you. Brandon, can you get the um the first slide presentation up? I know Mike was going to do that, but thank you. Appreciate that. While Brandon does that, let me just make uh a couple of comments about where. We uh for people who are trying to watch us uh via streaming, uh we apologize. Uh we have technical difficulties in um I guess now we are up and running and you can uh follow this meeting. Uh today uh so far in the meeting we went through our uh consent agenda and public comment and the manager report. And now um we are gonna now the town manager is going to present the council and the public at large with his budget and also presentation of Opera funds. Uh in addition, uh Council Matt McCoy is not here tonight because he is in Washington, D.C. advocating uh behalf of the VFW to our delegation. Um I think that's it. I don't know if anyone else has any Did I miss anything? Okay. Thank you. Um Mr. Town Manager, uh whenever you are ready. Thank you, Mr. President, Councilmember. So I'll be making two um presentations tonight. First is my annual budget message with some brief slides, and then um to complement that we'll be talking about the opera plan. Um the opera plan I'll be asking for you to accept and place it on file, and hopefully we can discuss this during the March 11th and 12th hearing. So in accordance with the charter of the town of North Kingstown, I am hereby submitting the proposed annual budget for fiscal year June 30th, 2025 to the Honorable Town Council. The fiscal year 2025 budget reflects a zero-based budgeting process as required by the town council. I want to recognize the dedication of our department heads as they have compiled departmental budgets, which provide outstanding and exciting services and initiatives while avoiding adverse financial impact on our taxpayers. And I also want to thank the team of department heads who are here this evening to join us as they will be again on the 11th and 12th and then our April public hearing. I also want to thank our dedicated workforce for their hard work. Uh, the employees of our town have established a reputation of responsiveness and compassion for our residents and businesses while being effective and efficient. The budget that I'm presenting for fiscal year 2025 continues the award-winning format we designed and introduced six years ago. Uh, this format is informative, it's transparent, and it's easy to follow for our residents. The fiscal year 2025 budget achieves the goals set by this administration and the town council of maintaining the tax rates at their current level. Uh this you see that our current tax rates. This is something new. We're actually uh we're showing that while we do have a $14.34 for residential, in reality, a majority of the residential enjoy the homestead exemption, which their rate is actually $13.62. This no tax increase proposal coupled with the 5% homestead exemption, which I just talked about, adopted in fiscal year 2023.

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