Cranston Mayor Hopkins budget address. A thriving, fiscally strong city, investing in children.

MAYOR’S BUDGET ADDRESS TO THE CITY COUNCIL, APRIL 1, 2025

This evening, I am, once again, very proud to report that the City of Cranston is thriving and is fiscally strong. That is so because, for the past four years, I am making sure that, with support of the city council, Cranston is a safe city for our residents and businesses.  

Our economic development efforts are paying off with new businesses continuing to come into our city. 

We are bullish on investing in infrastructure to further enhance the quality of life of our residents.  In the budget that I propose, we will strategically invest in our roads and bridges, improve our small business environment by revitalize our neighborhoods in the likes of our wonderful Knightsville streetscape; finally begin to invest in long-term stormwater projects; build new and improved recreational facilities; provide funding for our neglected fire station facilities; and begin to deliver to the taxpayers, a massive investment in our school building facilities. Collectively, these investments will make Cranston a better city for our children and all residents while delivering exceptional services.  

Fiscally, I found early in my administration, that Cranston suffered from significant financial deficiencies that needed to be addressed. When I took office, we were faced with a structural spending deficit and unfunded reserves of millions of dollars.  At the same time, we were challenged by the devastating impacts of the COVID pandemic. 

You will recall that I faced these challenges head on. Early on, I trimmed city government by implementing an unfortunate, but necessary workforce reduction of twenty-four positions. We have since seen our community emerge from these difficulties. The people of Cranston have since re-engaged, our financial health has now rebound, and community pride is soaring.

However, with this success, it is important to be reminded that Cranston no longer qualifies as a “Distressed Community.” This is a double-edge sword – we lost out on these significant funds because our city and its residents have experienced fiscal improvement. This, alone, has resulted in a loss of over $2.7 million of state-aid to the city.  On top of that, the State has reduced their contribution in PILOT funds (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) to Cranston of over $1.6 million in the past three years.

Like all municipalities, we were fortunate to have American Rescue Plan funds to help us during some of the nation’s darkest times. I recognized that those funds were to be used only as a bridge to see us out of the economic downturn of Covid.  Over the past few years, I planned ahead and pulled us out of the city’s dependence on those one-time funds.  We did this with only a nominal tax burden on our taxpayers over the years. 

I believe that you will agree that I made the tough decisions – but that they were also the right decisions for our residents. Our bond rating agencies agree in that our most recent ratings were reaffirmed at AA+ by Fitch and similar ratings by Moody’s and Standards and Poors.

Although we are in fiscally sound shape, we still have significant financial challenges. I suppose that we always will.  It is my job, the job of the city council and that of the school district to still deliver excellence while not overburdening our residential and business taxpayers.  

Today, the greatest fiscal challenge that we face is: Inadequate State funding of our schools – especially in light of unfunded State mandates.  We are also facing rising employee health and pension costs. 

As a city, we must also find ways to fund tens of millions of dollars to pay for the new schools and school facility improvements that our voters overwhelmingly approved in recent years. 

The essence of the budget that I offer you this evening is simple:  The budget focuses on funding for our schools and our children.  Funding levels on the city side are only to maintain the essential and excellent city services that our residents expect. 

You will see that this is a no-frills budget from the city side.  The city side of the budget comprises approximately 45% of the entire city budget. The bulk of the budget, over 55%, resides on the side of the School Department.  The city’s operating budget that I present to you funds no new costly initiatives. 

This is an austere budget from the city side that, frankly, our department heads won’t be happy with. I am not pleased to have to limit spending to our city departments, but I recognize the necessity of devoting all available resources to our schools and the children of this city.  

As city leaders, we need to do this as cost-effective and affordable to our taxpayers as possible. As I mentioned, we are committed to continue delivering top services for our citizens, including ongoing support for our public safety departments, our parks and recreation programs, and much more. We will do this despite challenging times, inflationary factors, and ever-increasing pressures to spend more. 

This budget reflects the difficult decisions necessary for our long-term financial health. On the city side, I will control spending and ask that we do the same on school side of the budget.  Together, we will make Cranston stronger and better.

All city department heads will be directed to manage their budgets while meeting my expected level of services to our taxpayers.  Included in this budget, the city will, of course, fulfill contractual obligations and step increases for city employees. 

This budget provides for fully funding our required annual pension and Other Post Retirement Contributions.

In support of our schools, I am proposing to increase the city’s contribution to the school department by nearly $2.3 million – $2,279,000 to be exact.  This amount is nearly unprecedented and exceeds all increases provided to the schools in fifteen years. This $2.3 million, is in addition to $1 million that I recently provided to our schools using one-time ARPA funds.

This funding is independent from State School Aid that is currently slated to increase by approximately $5.1 million, or 6.73%, boosting it from approximately $75.6 million to $80.7 million. 

This support for our schools and city infrastructure represents essential strategic investment for the future generations of Cranston. This budget delivers all the funds while ensuring reliable and affordable city services to our residents.

The overall budget that I present to you is approximately $338.1 million.  

As I did not propose a tax levy increase last year, I propose a modest 2.57% tax rate increase on residential properties and a proportionate increase on commercial properties.  This increase is to largely support our schools this coming year.  

If adopted as proposed, the residential tax rate will be $13.96 per thousand, slightly up from this year’s rate of $13.61. The commercial and industrial property rate will be $20.94 versus the current rate of $20.42. For example, the average home value in Cranston is $347,600.  This raise would equate to a $122 tax increase.  

This budget increases the tax levy 3% from this year’s budget.  We need to be reminded that the City Charter mandates that tax increases cannot exceed 3% of the prior year levy.

As we are well aware, our neighboring communities are experiencing unprecedented fiscal difficulties resulting in much higher tax increases. I can assure you that through the prudent financial measures of my administration and basic support of the city council throughout the years, our city finances are strong and sustainable.  We all should be proud of that fact.

I do hope, however, that we all recognize the need to fund our schools as much as we can.  That’s what this budget is about. This budget I present tonight will enable us to address the financial needs of our city while ensuring the delivery of essential services. 

We will persist in our commitment to serve our constituents effectively. This is a worthy financial strategy for our city that merits your support. I am dedicated to steering Cranston in a positive direction without imposing excessive costs on taxpayers.

We will invest in our infrastructure and enhance the visual appeal of our business districts to encourage visitors to shop, dine, and engage with our local businesses.  I will continue to attract larger scale businesses to our city.

This budget underscores my dedication to public safety with our police and fire departments. With this plan, we will ensure our streets and neighborhoods remain safe.

The community pride we witness daily is evident.  As leaders of our city, we can share in that pride in our financial support of our unique quality of life here in our city.  We can also continue to support civic events such as Cranston’s parades, fairs, and festivals. This budget will continue to support these community activities.

I extend my gratitude to those city employees that, even in the cold of winter, clear our streets –  and to those who maintain our infrastructure during the heat of summer.

Importantly, I appreciate all who serve and assist our taxpayers and residents every day as they engage with local government at City Hall and various the various offices throughout the city – and certainly to our police and fire personnel.

I have the privilege of witnessing firsthand how you make this city work for our residents. Our aim in crafting this budget is to ensure that the city puts our schools first, to provide essential services and to safeguard our long-term financial health.

This budget is my best effort to keep Cranston affordable for all taxpayers, families, and businesses.

I believe that this budget properly balances the needs of our schools where we continue to invest in our children.