Committee approves 10-year tax agreement with Providence Water Supply Board

The Providence Committee on Finance voted to approve a 10‑year tax agreement between the city and the Providence Water Supply Board, the city-run water utility, after receiving a presentation on how the agreement would set an initial valuation base and the effect on annual tax payments.

City staff and the water board representative told the committee the proposed agreement would begin from a valuation base of $18,600,000 and allow an annual increase capped at 4 percent, unless changed by the state legislature. Using the board’s figures, the committee heard the commercial tax amount under the agreement for FY 2025 would start near $402,000 compared with an estimated $462,007.98 if assessed under 2020 valuations — a difference of about $60,000 in the first year of the new schedule.

The board’s presenter said the valuation of the properties under the 2023 evaluation is about $22,200,000 and that the new agreement effectively preserves a lower starting valuation for the term of the contract. Committee members were told that newly acquired properties and new improvements to the properties covered by the agreement would not be taxed under the terms of this document and that the 4 percent cap limits annual increases for the duration of the agreement.

Councilor Sanchez moved approval of the resolution and the motion was seconded; the clerk recorded the item as approved. Committee members asked for and received clarification that one property moving into the agreement is tax‑exempt and that the agreement is intended to stabilize the city’s tax receipts from the listed properties over the contract term.

The committee marked the materials submitted by the water board as an exhibit for the record and closed discussion after the vote.