Warwick council moves to ask state to create school budget commission amid multimillion-dollar shortfall

The Warwick City Council voted to send PCR 20-25 — a request that the Rhode Island General Assembly enact legislation creating a Warwick Public Schools Budget Commission — after presentations from the mayor, state audit officials and the chair of the school committee and more than two hours of council debate and public comment.

The measure asks the state to authorize a temporary budget commission to help the city and school department develop and implement a corrective action and multi‑year amortization plan in response to the school system’s projected operating shortfall. “They have had a $9,000,000 deficit in their 2025 operating budget,” Mayor Frank Piccozzi told the council, adding the gap could raise borrowing costs because of the city’s pending bond sales.

Why it matters: City officials said the projected deficit for fiscal 2025, taken together with an unresolved operating shortfall from 2024, could endanger Warwick’s credit rating and increase interest costs on roughly $300 million in planned bond sales tied in part to school construction. State Auditor General David Bergantino told the council that the projected shortfall and an earlier 2024 operating deficit “provides the necessary resources and accountability needed” and urged rapid action to produce an achievable corrective action plan.

What proponents said: The mayor and two former and current state audit officials argued the city needs fast, outside support to craft a durable plan and to reassure rating agencies and lenders. Ernie Almonte, a former state auditor, told councilors from his experience chairing similar panels in other municipalities, “I don’t see any other option to solve this problem.” Finance Director Peter Shaffer (listed in the meeting materials; also referenced in the record as Peter Shaver) said the city and schools need a five‑year forecast and an amortization timetable for any deficit spread over multiple years.

What opponents said: Sean Galligan, chair of the Warwick School Committee, said the committee opposes special‑purpose local legislation creating a budget commission and urged reliance on local oversight and established state statutes instead. Galligan said the school committee has already frozen discretionary spending, engaged outside consultants and cut roughly $2.89 million in the first week after meeting with the auditor general, and he called for locally directed option: “The school committee respectfully opposes the resolution.” He told councilors the committee expects to present a corrective five‑year plan to the auditor general by Feb. 28.

Council debate and changes: Council members voiced split views. Supporters said an external commission — structured with statutory safeguards — would provide objectivity and the authority to ensure corrective plans are implemented before fiscal 2026. Critics said a commission risks stripping power from locally elected school officials and asked whether existing state authorities under R.I.G.L. 45‑9 (budget commissions and fiscal overseers) could be used instead. To address those concerns, council amendments inserted explicit exemptions forbidding the commission from altering or nullifying collective bargaining agreements, eliminating the duty to bargain, hiring or terminating school personnel, or changing projects funded by bond proceeds (including the new high‑school construction projects). The amendments also broadened which state lawmakers would receive the petition and clarified procedural points.

Public comment: About two dozen speakers appeared. Some retirees and taxpayers urged defeat of the measure as a “power grab,” saying local elected officials should retain control. Teachers and union leaders asked for time for locally directed corrective steps before state intervention. Several residents and former school officials urged rapid oversight, citing the potential long‑term fiscal impact on taxpayers.

Next steps and timeline: The council sent the amended resolution to the General Assembly; proponents noted the legislated process would likely take 30 to 60 days and that, if the special legislation is enacted, appointments and commission work would follow. The school committee has committed to continued, twice‑weekly coordination with city finance staff and to present a corrective five‑year plan to the auditor general by Feb. 28. The auditor general’s office will review any corrective action for reasonableness and achievability.

The debate underscored competing priorities: avoid a municipal credit downgrade that would raise borrowing costs for major school construction, while protecting the governance role of elected local school officials and the terms of contracts negotiated with employees.