PROVIDENCE — With lawmakers furiously ironing out the final details of the forthcoming Rhode Island state budget, cities and towns are bracing for the possible loss of millions in general revenue funds –– losses they hope to offset with freedom from potentially costly local mandates.

A new report by the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council advises that local communities could save upward of $80 million in the coming years if they are given authority to eliminate or consolidate a host of municipal and school services, and require minimum employee health-care contributions.

By establishing a statewide school employees’ health and dental insurance program, the report suggests that communities could save a combined $17.1 million over three years; eliminating school bus monitors could help pocket $11.7 million; while teaming up on school food programs would save $1.6 million.

But as lawmakers prepare to unveil the state’s $7-billion tax-and-spend plan, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has questioned the need for such relief and whether it would save substantial dollars.

“When we ask the cities and towns to provide us with [a list of] very costly mandates, the list is pretty short. And they don’t amount to a heck of a lot of money to be honest with you,” chairman Daniel DaPonte said before the release of the RIPEC study.

Local leaders see it differently.

“This report unequivocally verifies the position of local officials, not just in the current fiscal years but for more than two decades,” said Dan Beardsley, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns. “Certain barriers exist which prevent cities and towns from managing their communities in the way they would like –– in some cases that’s because of state mandated laws, in others because of decisions by arbitration panels.”

Governor Carcieri first put forth a host of proposed cost-saving measures in this winter’s mid-year budget repair plan as a way of offsetting more than $50 million in proposed revenue-sharing cuts.

Since then, legislators tasked with deciding the fate of Carcieri’s budget have made the case that cities and towns are not doing enough to help trim costs. In a House Finance Committee hearing this spring, chairman Steven M. Costantino questioned why the Assembly should step in and legislate the terms of a contract.

Last week, during Senate budget caucus, when asked by colleagues about the leadership’s stand on the proposed cost-cutting tools, DaPonte too expressed uncertainty about the state’s role. “These are all contractual obligations and management’s rights the cities and towns have given up over time,” he said.

Johnston Mayor Joseph M. Polisena, a former Democratic senator, dismissed that rationale.

“I spent 12 years up there and I don’t know how anyone could think it wouldn’t save the cities and towns money, of course it would …We have come to the realization that the legislature is going to do away with all general revenue sharing, which will be devastating to the cities and towns unless we get something in return such as these tools.”

“I hear people in the General Assembly say this is not our problem,” Lincoln Town Administrator Joseph T. Almond added. “The fact is, they are cutting local aid, which is their prerogative. They are forcing these bills on local property taxpayers.”

Other findings in the new RIPEC report suggest:

•Imposing a mandatory 25-percent health insurance cost sharing for municipal employees and teachers could save more than $60 million.

•Scaling back injured-on-duty pay for public-safety workers from 100 percent to 80 percent would save $1.2 million next year.

•Repealing the requirement that all school nurses also be certified teachers would save $3.3 million next year.

Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe Tuesday applauded the report for enforcing what the governor has stressed for months. “Our cities and towns need the tools to be able to prudently manage their budgets, and can no longer be handcuffed by unfunded mandates and restrictive management constraints, especially in these economic times,” she said.

cneedham@projo.com