The North Kingstown Town Council is in the middle of finalizing its 2024 fiscal year budget.

Get ready for higher taxes.

The process started with a zero-based process with the Town Manager compiling budget requests from various department heads and then making necessary adjustments to arrive at a proposal he has shared with the Town Council.

The budget total is just over $117 million dollars. This is a 3% increase over last year and a 12% increase over the 2020 fiscal year budget. Sixty two percent (62%) of the proposed General Fund Budget is allocated to the School Department. 19% of the General Fund Budget expenditures goes towards Public Safety. Over 6% of the Budget expenditures is allocated towards Public Works and Utilities. 4.57% of the General Fund Budget is comprised of debt service for both School Department and Town debt. These groups make up the largest portions of the NK Fiscal Year 2024 Budget.

Where do we get the money to pay for all of this? Well, mostly from you (tax revenue) a along with an allocation of state aid for our schools. The Town Manager has declared that the 2024 budget will require a 2.2% increase in the town’s tax rate. He has stated that the new rate will be $14.37. This “rate” looks reasonable and is lower than previous years, but remember that the Town just concluded a massive revaluation of homeowner properties which ended up increasing taxes for virtually everyone. The Town then pretended to give you a tax break by allowing “Homestead Exemptions.” In reality, this was simply a way for them to appear empathetic by lessening the blow of an actual tax increase.

Each year, the Town does not plan to collect more revenue than is needed. However, over the last several years, the town has collected roughly $20 million more than it has budgeted. That’s right, $20 million of your money.

But what’s wrong with that? Of course, it’s always good to have a budget surplus – sort of like a personal bank savings account from which you can draw for unexpected expenses. The Town has said that a surplus of 10% of the total budget is reasonable. We would agree that ten percent seems prudent. In this case, that would be about $12 million (10% of the $117 million budget). However, that leaves $8 million too much that has been collected.

So, what is the town going to do with that extra $8 million of your money?

The Town Council said they like budget surpluses. They love spending other people’s money. It gives them an opportunity to fund their pet projects and heroically proclaim their management prowess. One Town Council member has said, “When we collect more than is needed, we then look at ways to fund town projects that will benefit the taxpayers.”

Here are some of things they are proposing:

• Funding for plans for a 350th Town Anniversary Celebration in 2024
• Renovations of our Municipal Office Building
• Renovations at McGinn and Wilson Parks to resurface our basketball courts, tennis courts, provide additional and dedicated pickleball courts, additional seating, and potential relocation of a new volleyball court.
• Upgrades to the Community Center
• New LED lighting at Ryan Park and McGinn Park
• AEDs throughout our town as we embark on becoming a “4-minute city“
• $700,000 of road paving
• Improvements and repairs to our Senior Center building
• Increased funding of Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB)
• Two additional Police Officers to bring our four shifts to full complement
• Funding of the priorities outlined within the CIP of our Asset Management Commission
• Continued improvements at our premier Municipal Golf Course and Allen Harbor

These all seem like they could be worthy projects or expenditures, right? Except, here’s the problem: Town residents never voted on or approved any of these projects or expenditures. There are many who believe it is irresponsible for the Town to simply continue accumulating surpluses year-after-year and then spend them on projects not approved by taxpayers. It may very well be that people would be fine with the projects listed above, but we’ll never know.

If you play pickleball, this is great. If you are an elderly, housebound resident living on a fixed social security income, this is not okay. And North Kingstown has a large elderly population on fixed incomes not interested in some of those initiatives. Their voice has not been heard. They have not had an opportunity to vote on these. Nor has anyone else.

Beyond that, these surplus expenditures could also be considered frivolous in that the Town may soon be asking residents to fund (through bond initiatives and more increases in taxes) several very expensive capital outlay projects, including the following:

• A new, centralized middle school to be located where the current Quidnessett Elementary School is located
• A new Police / Fire Complex
• A new Town Recreation Center
• Major repairs to the high school and other town properties

The cost for these has not been officially defined, but conservative estimates have soared beyond $225 million. Yikes! Get ready. Tax rates will surely have to be raised to pay for the debt service on these bonds.

And let’s not forget that the town faces many lawsuits and potentially millions in restitution related to the Aaron Thomas situation. Insurance would cover some of that, but not the entire amount. And did you know, the town’s insurance premiums have already gone up in anticipation of possible lawsuit payouts.

As Republicans, currently not in charge, we have questions.

• Why can’t the Town seem to budget more accurately? They go year after year stealing your money through unnecessary surpluses, then spending this money on pet projects while proclaiming their brilliance at management.
• Why can’t the Town apply the excess budget surplus to the current year’s operating expenses to lessen the tax burden on residents? In case Democrats had not noticed, we are living in challenging economic times. Many residents face difficult financial decisions every day related to energy, food and housing costs.
• Why isn’t the Town asking residents how they want to invest in local projects? We agree it’s silly to ask about things like road paving, but why isn’t surplus money road paving spending factored into the original Town budget?
• Instead of building one central middle school (at the far end of Town) why aren’t we seriously considering upgrading Wickford Middle School? Many towns and cities around New England have upgraded older facilities to become state-of-the-art schools without spending as much for a new school. NOTE: The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) is incentivizing schools to build new, and the consultant hired by the School Committee to study this is politically motivated to push schools in this direction. But why?
• Why should the schools continually be rewarded with higher budgets (3-4% increases EVERY year) when enrollment is shrinking and student outcomes worsening? And typically, the school money grab typically goes towards more administration people, not teachers. DID YOU KNOW: The School Department is also sitting on a surplus. What is that being used for? It also has a more than adequate classroom supplies budget, yet teachers regularly ask parents to bring in extra supplies from home. This is wrong!

The point is, Democrats are spending like drunken sailors.

They are terrific when it comes to spending other people’s money, especially when they continue to take more than is needed (through higher taxes and continued surpluses). They get to proclaim: Look at all the wonderful things we are doing for the Town. But, especially now, while we are living through very challenging economic times, shouldn’t they be more fiscally prudent? Shouldn’t they be considerate of all residents?

Again, projects like new pickleball courts are great, but only if you play pickleball. Or if we all have a say in whether pickleball courts are something we all want.

Let’s get this budgeting process right and let’s spend our money more responsibly.