Portsmouth Town Council provisionally approves FY24 budget. What budgets are increasing?
The town of Portsmouth's annual budget is moving toward completion.
The Portsmouth Town Council provisionally approved the Fiscal 2024 municipal budget at its April 26 meeting. The FY24 budget proposes expenditures of $71,431,755 from the General Fund, which is a 1.92% increase over last year.
The budget will be submitted to the RI Division of Municipal Finance on May 9, the town’s public budget hearing will be on June 14, and the Town Council will formally adopt the FY 2023-24 budget on June 26.
Here's a look at what's changed in some of the most well-known departments across Portsmouth.
Property tax rate to decrease, but total property levy to increase
This proposed budget would entail a residential property tax rate of $12.865 / $1000 in assessed value, compared to the current rate of $15.651. This is a $2.786 or 17.8% decrease in the residential property tax rate.
However, the total property levy on residential, commercial, and tangible property increases 3.757% to $61,904,267.
School department budget increased, while state aid to school department decreased
The school budget in FY23 was $35,969,870. The provisional FY24 budget calls for $37,287,545 for the school department, a 3.66% increase.
School aid: Governor's budget cuts more than $1 million from Newport County schools
State aid for the Portsmouth school department was $3,754,129, and has been reduced to $3,496,499 in 2024, a 6.86% decrease.
Police budget slightly decreased
The Portsmouth Police Department received $7,304,666 in FY23, and has been allocated $$7,184,194 in FY24. This is a 1.65% decrease in funding.
Fire budget slightly increased
The Portsmouth Fire Department was funded $7,051,689 in FY23, and the Town Council provisionally approved an allocation of $7,252,559 in FY24, a 2.85% funding increase.
What they're saying
Town Administrator Rich Rainer’s report indicates the proposed increase is substantially lower than the inflation rate, which he attributes to fiscally responsible budget policies and practices, efforts by the town to maintain high collection rates, and an increase in the “grand list” (the compilation, by value, of all taxable and tax-exempt property within Portsmouth).
Who makes what: Who were Newport's top municipal, school department earners in 2022?
Explaining the budget
Portsmouth’s municipal budget includes both an operating budget and a capital budget: an operating budget is a plan of annual spending and the means to pay for it, and a capital budget contains long-term spending for the acquisition of assets or the improvement of existing assets and the means to pay for them, including potential borrowing.
All the funds of the town can be divided into three categories: governmental funds, fiduciary funds and proprietary funds.
Governmental funds account for most governmental functions, and include the General Fund, Special Revenue Funds, Capital Projects Funds, Debt Service Funds, Permanent Funds and Expendable Trust. The town of Portsmouth maintains 102 discrete governmental funds.
Proprietary funds are used to account for business-like activities provided to the public, and in Portsmouth are enterprise funds financed primarily by user charges – the Glen Manor House activities are provided in one such fund.
Fiduciary funds are used to report assets held in trustee or agency capacity and cannot be used to support a government’s own programs. The Pension Trust Fund which is held for beneficiaries of pension plans is one example of a fiduciary fund in Portsmouth.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Portsmouth Town Council provisionally approves FY24 municipal budget
