Smith Hill’s money problems have begun to affect the harbors of Block Island, the libraries of South Kingstown and the streets of Tiverton.

Cash-strapped communities across the Ocean State have been forced to cut marine patrols, trim transportation programs for senior citizens, and even turn off their street lights, as cuts in state aid begin to hit home.

And cuts in local services are just beginning.

Facing staggering budget deficits at the state level, Rhode Island’s most powerful politicians — Governor Carcieri among them — support plans to slash funding for local communities as they craft a new state budget in the coming weeks.

“I know where they’re going to be looking. I’ve got a target painted on my back,” said Daniel Beardsley, the face of municipalities inside the State House, as the executive director for the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns. “I’ve never ever in my 35 years witnessed anything as depressing in terms of the outlook for my home state and the outlook for 39 political subdivisions I represent.”

Beardsley’s fear stems from dismal revenue projections released last week by state budget officials: Instead of facing a gap of $460 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, the General Assembly now must craft a tax-and-spend package to fill a shortfall estimated at $590 million, or 19 percent of all state spending. State leaders, generally reluctant to discuss budget decisions before they are completed, have made it clear that communities should plan for the worst.

“In times like this, there are no sacred cows anywhere. Everyone’s ox is going to be gored in some way,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel DaPonte said. “As the state’s municipalities make up $1 billion, or a third of our general revenue dollars, [their] ox is going to get gored.”

Indeed, the pain of the looming budget cuts will extend far beyond the State House.

“It’s going to be more obvious to some Rhode Islanders than it is to others when they go to the local branch of their public library and find out it’s closed two days a week,” Beardsley said. “Or when they bring out the trash barrels on any given weekday and come home from work and the trash barrels are standing there full,… or when transportation to and from the senior services center is only running on odd number days… And some unfortunately are going to see it in their tax bills.”

In most cases, property taxes are already up from last year. And even before new state aid cuts are made, local services are already being trimmed.

STEPHEN ALFRED hasn’t seen anything quite like this.

“We’ve gone through recessionary periods in the past, but this one has a different feel to it,” said Alfred, South Kingstown’s town manager of the last 33 years. “The loss on the state aid really created some severe difficulties.”

Cities and towns have barely had time to react to the Assembly’s April decision to cut $30 million in promised state aid in the middle of the current fiscal year.

South Kingstown responded by ending Sunday library hours, shortening the shifts for animal control officers, and cutting hours for its marine patrol. And the Town Hall switchboard operator has been laid off, replaced by an automated answering system.

A list recently produced by the League of Cities and Towns, under enormous pressure to prove communities are making difficult decisions, reveals that South Kingstown is not alone: Tiverton has suspended all paving projects, turned off its street lights and forced all non-emergency workers to take off one day each week for the rest of the fiscal year. North Smithfield has cut its Town Hall hours, instituted layoffs and bumped up employees’ share of their health-care premiums.

The list further details that Lincoln instituted a wage freeze and suspended road and sidewalk maintenance programs. Block Island cut hours for police and harbor patrols. And Cumberland and Burrillville are not filling several police officer openings

But Governor Carcieri, interviewed last week, said that municipal spending cuts are not coming “fast enough” and they’re not “widespread enough.”

“The citizens out there are having to live with this. It’s a tough time,” he said. “But we’ve got to manage our way through this by finding ways to reduce the spending at the local level.”

Indeed, the numbers suggest that municipalities have largely avoided the budget cuts that swept across state government in recent years, according to a report to be released this week by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

Since 2004, “the increase in local government expenditures has outpaced the growth in the state general fund budget, [the consumer price index], and personal income in almost every year,” the report says. “The majority of this expenditure growth has been to support education spending, which accounts for the majority of local spending; however, spending on employee benefits is the second-fastest increasing component of municipal budgets.”

In all, the state distributed $1.045 billion to cities and towns this year –– roughly one-third of the $3.1-billion state budget.

That’s up 17 percent, or $151 million since 2004, according to figures provided by the state Department of Revenue. Over that same time, spending on the state’s workforce grew by 9.5 percent; general state operations shrank by 10.3 percent; and spending on entitlement programs shrank by .3 percent.

Municipalities spent more than half of their state aid on education, but increases in education spending by communities since 2004 generally matched increases in overall municipal spending, up 20.3 and 21.9 percent respectively.

“There are few areas left you can go [to] at the state level,” Carcieri said, disclosing his preference for closing a deficit that is now estimated at $130 million more than officials had previously believed: “A big chunk of that can be the pension reform — I think as much as two-thirds can be the pension reform,” Carcieri said. “The balance is going to wind up having to come from local aid. This is it.”

A legislative-appointed panel recommended in March a host of pension changes for 23,700 state employees and public school teachers, including instituting a minimum retirement age of 65, limiting annual cost-of-living increases for future retirees, and basing future pensions on an employee’s five-year salary average, instead of the three-year average currently used.

Organized labor is battling to block the pension changes, just as local government leaders fight to save the state dollars they believe they are entitled to.

Alfred, the South Kingstown town manager, dismisses Carcieri’s suggestion that municipalities aren’t doing enough

“I think that’s a big broad brush that’s being used,” Alfred said. “I think it’s very misleading.”

He added that his hands are largely tied by state mandates and contractual requirements set in state law. Carcieri too, acknowledges that local leaders don’t have unfettered freedom to cut costs because of things like minimum manning requirements in police and firefighter contracts and requirements that school buses have monitors.

The governor has introduced legislation to eliminate most of the mandates. But the Democrat-controlled Assembly has been reluctant to support the Republican governor’s initiatives, most of which are opposed by organized labor.

RIPEC’s study suggests there is room for communities to cut spending, but not unless state law is changed.

“I think our position would be we believe if you provided the tools to municipal government, that there is a fair amount of areas where reduction could occur,” said RIPEC executive director John Simmons.

The governor believes, even without the tools, that municipal unions should offer more substantial concessions.

Beardsley, meanwhile, insists that municipalities have done more than enough. Local leaders from Glocester to Narragansett have already fought to open union contracts in recent months, winning wages and benefit concessions that have saved taxpayers millions.

“The state isn’t doing what is taking place at the local level of government. Cities and towns are fighting for the pennies they’re saving,” he said. “It’s downright depressing.”

speoples@projo.com