North Smithfield council continues FY2025–26 budget hearing after public questions on senior services, contracts and reconciliations

The North Smithfield Town Council reopened a public hearing on the town's proposed fiscal year 2025'26 budget on June 23 and voted to continue the hearing to June 24 at 6:45 p.m. after extended public comment and council discussion about senior services, vendor procurement and whether year'to'date financials were sufficiently reconciled.

The hearing drew sustained public comment from residents and the budget committee, who pressed the council for clearer reconciled figures through May and for written legal advice on procurement tied to a proposed contract to operate local senior programs. "There will be no interruption of services for seniors," said Linda Thiebaud, chair of the Senior Citizen Advisory Committee and the meeting's primary senior services presenter. Thiebaud told the council she had secured grants, sponsors and equipment to support meals and classes and said she was working to add congregate meals at Scouters.

Why it matters: Councilors and the budget committee said they could not comfortably finalize a $55 million'range draft budget without reconciled year'end figures and clearer detail on large, one'time items and revenue sources. Budget reconciliation affects the council's ability to assess how much of the proposed increase would fall on residential taxpayers versus commercial/tangible tax receipts.

What residents and committee members raised

- Contracting and due diligence: Resident Mike Clifford criticized the process for hiring an outside manager to run local senior activities, saying the town appeared to be negotiating with an LLC without a formal competitive bid or written legal opinion on whether competitive bidding was required. "I have a problem with the process that we're following here because you know I'm a stickler on process and this process is bouncing all over the wall," Clifford said. He also asked for the town solicitor's opinion in writing about bidding, liability and insurance.

- Senior services and grant detail: Thiebaud said meals are funded through a federal grant under the Older Americans Act (she referred to it as the federal grant that subsidizes congregate meals) and that the standard participant contribution is a $3 donation; those unable to pay are served regardless. She listed planned classes and sponsors, noting Blue Cross Blue Shield underwriting some programs and that she had sought Office of Healthy Aging (OHA) help to resolve a voucher allocation error.

- Fiscal reconciliations and revenue concerns: Douglas Soja, chair of the Budget Committee, and other commenters urged more complete reconciled financials before final vote. Town staff and the administrator said reconciliations were complete through April 30; staff said they could update numbers through May 31 by the next day but that some May/June entries (two payrolls, school appropriation and certain debt service payments) still needed posting. The administrator said, "I can update the numbers as of 05:30 by tomorrow," while acknowledging the update might not be a fully reconciled closing of the fiscal year.

- Use of one'time/tangible revenue: Commenters noted a roughly $383,730 increase this year in tangible tax revenue tied to a National Grid project and warned that relying on such one'time tangible receipts masks the underlying operating cost increases that could fall to residential taxpayers if the tangible revenue does not recur.

Council response and procedural steps

Council members and the Budget Committee repeatedly requested a corrected, consistent spreadsheet and reconciled figures through May to compare actuals with adopted and proposed budgets. Budget Committee Chair Douglas Soja said, "I think it's a huge risk to the town that we're not being reconciled." After discussion the council voted to continue the public hearing and to move items related to the FY2025'26 budget to a continued session on June 24 at 6:45 p.m., and the same items were added to the meeting agenda for Thursday to ensure public notice.

Votes and motions

- Motion to open the public hearing on the FY2025'26 budget: moved from the floor and approved on a roll call vote (all present council members voted yes).

- Motion to continue the public hearing to June 24, 6:45 p.m.: moved and seconded; roll call vote recorded as unanimous in favor.

- Motion to continue/take items 4 and 5 on the June 23 agenda to June 24, 6:45 p.m.: moved, seconded and approved by roll call; the clerk was directed to amend the Thursday agenda so the matters will also appear there.

A look ahead

Councilors and staff agreed to attempt to provide an updated set of actuals through May 31 by the next day and to identify major June commitments (school appropriation, debt service and payroll) so the council could better evaluate the proposed FY2025'26 spending levels. Additional budget sessions were scheduled (including Thursday and a special meeting before the fiscal year end) to allow the council to complete deliberations and, if necessary, set the tax rate.

Ending

The council closed public comment for the night after voting to continue the hearing. Several residents and budget committee members said they would return to the next session to review corrected financial reports and to press for a written solicitor opinion on procurement and insurance for any contract to manage local senior programs.