Newport City Councilors want to keep more tourism money in town. Can legislators help?

From fee increases on cruise ships to changes in the state education funding formula to changes in how the hotel tax is distributed, the Newport City Council’s legislative priorities for 2024 primarily centered on ways the city can get more revenue into the city budget now that Covid-era one-time-funding has started to dry up and expire.

“Right now, Newport’s budget is about 80% supported by real estate taxes, but we are one of the largest drivers of revenue for the state itself,” Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong said at a City Council workshop with the state delegation. “We’re just looking for additional tools we can use besides putting this burden on our taxpayers so we can continue the great cash flow that comes out of this community for the benefit of the entire state.

Six of the seven members of Newport’s City Council, sans Councilor Charlie Holder, and three of the city’s four General Assembly members, sans Rep. Marvin Abney, met in the council chambers Saturday morning to discuss what the city is hoping to get out of the 2024 legislative session, which just started on Jan. 2.

This year, legislators have a 15-bill limit on the number of bills they can introduce as a result of an influx of bills introduced during last year’s session. However, Rep. Lauren Carson pointed out to the City Council that bills introduced through municipal resolutions are exempt from this rule.

Here is the City Council’s legislative wish list for 2024:

Increasing Cruise Ship Fees

One of the most specific requests Newport City Council asked of its legislative delegation was to explore increases in fees for cruise ships coming in and out of the city port. Khamsyvoravong said increasing the fee, which is currently $3 each way, to a potential $10 each way, would help the city fund improvements to related infrastructure, such as maintenance and improvement projects in Perrotti Park.

Getting Additional State Funding for Cliff Walk Repairs

Although the city was able to secure a State of Emergency Declaration for the damage the Cliff Walk incurred in the spring and winter of 2022 which could help the city acquire grants to help fix the wall, Khamsyvoravong said they could use the delegation’s support in acquiring an additional $10 million allocation form the Governor’s budget for repairs, especially, the council emphasized, as the Cliff Walk is a major tourist attraction for the state.

Regulating houseboats

As the city continues finding ways to regulate the short-term rental market, Councilor David Carlin said the city is looking for its legislators to support any bills that might allow the city to regulate short-term rentals on houseboats as well.

Increasing PILOT payments for non-taxed properties

Payment In Lieu of Taxes is a way for municipalities to receive additional revenue from properties held by the state or federal government that they cannot otherwise tax. Khamsyovoravong explained the city has several properties of this type.

Changing the state funding for schools

The city asked its legislature to support a few bills from Middletown which would increase the amount of state funding allotted to English Language Learners in schools and free and reduced lunch recipients as well as an increase in school housing aid. Khamsyvoravong also said the city wants its delegation to support funding for the Governor’s Learn365 program. Additionally, the city would like to see support for legislation that would change the state aid funding formula from being based on the property tax levy to being based on the poverty and ELL rate.

Changes to the hotel tax distribution formula

Although Councilor Mark Aramli noted the council was not entirely in consensus on where they stand with this issue, several members of the council said the city was frustrated by the way the hotel tax is distributed. Currently, the city itself receives 25% of the tax revenue earned from the sale of hotel rooms in Newport, while 45% goes to help fund the Greater Newport County Tourism Authority, also known as Discover Newport, and the rest goes to the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation and the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau. The latter part is a particular pet peeve of the council which they discussed at the meeting, hoping the legislation would be able to submit bills that could reduce or eliminate the city’s contribution to Providence’s tourism authority.

Increased regular communication from the RIDOT

With how large the Pell Bridge Ramp Realignment project is, Councilor Angela McCalla said it has been frustrating that RIDOT has not been responsive to concerns coming out of the city, especially when it comes to the impacts construction may be having in the neighborhoods surrounding the site. Since Jodie Richards left the project, of which Khamsyvoravong pointed out the city never received notification, McCalla said the city does not even have a point of contact at RIDOT anymore. When she asked the delegation for help in getting more communication out of RIDOT, Carson agreed the agency has been "silent" compared to how engaged it was with the community at the beginning of the process.

DiPalma said he speaks regularly with officials at RIDOT and could help them voice specific requests.

Touching on recent statewide zoning changes

While this meeting was intended as a conversation about future legislative work, the group set aside time to discuss the recent statewide zoning changes passed in a series of General Assembly bills last August. The 13 bills updated the Zoning Enabling Act of 1991 and city staff had to work to bring the city’s zoning laws up to code before the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

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Although Councilor Jeanne Marie Napolitano questioned why these changes were necessitated seemingly out of nowhere, Carson explained the bills, which were designed to increase the state’s housing supply, had been a top priority of House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi for at least a year beforehand and said Shekarchi asked why the city had not participated in the discussions leading up to the vote last year. Shekarchi said Newport should bring its ideas if it is concerned about the changes made. Euer said they are willing to hear any amendments Newport would like to push through, as they are “sensitive” to the concerns Napolitano mentioned.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport City Council, legislators meet to discuss priorities in 2024