A financial report released last week holds the administration of former Providence Mayor and current U.S. Rep. David Cicilline '83, D-R.I., responsible for the city's $110 million deficit for the next fiscal year.
The report — commissioned by the Providence City Council — presents the Cicilline administration as financially irresponsible.
"While factors and events beyond the city's control contributed to Providence's weakening financial condition, the prior administration did not recommend the difficult choices necessary avert a fiscal crisis," the report reads.
It cites Cicilline's unilateral withdrawal from the rainy day fund — an attempt to brighten the appearance of the city's fiscal situation — as a significant factor leading to the expansionof the city's budget deficit. The move has come under fire in the months prior to the report's release. In his last two years in office, Cicilline reduced the value of the fund by $17.5 million. The city's charter does not permit withdrawal from the reserve fund without the city council's approval.
The Cicilline administration had unreasonable expectations of financial success for certain initiatives and failed to provide "projections of year-end surpluses or deficits" to allow the council to be kept abreast of the city's financial status, the report goes on to state.
The report also points to the national recession, housing market collapse and a 19 percent — or $49.6 million — reduction in state aid from 2008-11 as key factors in the increased deficit. These factors had a definite impact but were not the main cause, said Gary Sasse, the city council's fiscal adviser and co-author of the report. "Even with the loss of state aid, there is still underlying debt," he said.
The report aimed to establish the causes of the deficit and make recommendations to balance the city's budget, Sasse said. It suggests four potential remedies, including allowing the city council to be more "involved" in budgetary matters.
The authors briefed the office of Mayor Angel Taveras on their findings, but no concrete steps have yet been taken to employ the report's suggestions in future fiscal policies, he said.
Councilman Miguel Luna sponsored a resolution last week asking the council to hire a lawyer to investigate the expenditures of the Cicilline administration.
Cicilline fired back against accusations of fiscal irresponsibility in a email to his supporters last week. The email refers to Sasse's record as "chief architect of the state's finances" under former Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 and calls the cuts supported by the Carcieri administration "draconian."
"Getting lectured on fiscal responsibility by the same individual who led the charge to drastically cut revenue sharing to cities, leaving a $50 million hole in the Providence budget, is like an arsonist blaming a homeowner for the fire he set," he wrote in the email.
"The report speaks for itself," Sasse said. In response to the content of Cicilline's email, he said he did not wish to be diverted from the issue at stake. "The problems of the city are too important to get involved."