Bristol

BRISTOL — Although Roger Williams University made a proposal last month to compensate the town for municipal services, it could be several weeks before the two sides reach an agreement.

The Town Council was set to discuss the offer in executive session late last night with Town Administrator Diane Mederos and Town Solicitor Michael Ursillo, but before moving their meeting behind closed doors, councilors said they were far from ready to ratify any agreement.

“We’re not ready to make a decision tonight,” Councilman David Barboza said. “We’re still discussing this.”

Council chairman Kenneth A. Marshall described what was on the table as a “draft confidential offer.”

“It really is nothing until there is an official agreement,” he said. “I don’t anticipate reaching that point for some time. It’s probably going to take a month if not longer. It needs refinement, but it’s nothing that’s not doable in my eyes.”

Neither he nor university officials would disclose details of the proposal.

Town officials started meeting with Roger Williams representatives in 2003 after an agreement was announced in Providence in which Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson & Wales University and Providence College — all tax-exempt institutions — would contribute a total of $50 million to the city over two decades.

A deal in Bristol appeared close last May, when the university announced a multimillion-dollar scholarship program for local high school graduates, but talks soon broke down.

Barboza, who was representing the town in negotiations, along with Mederos and former council chairman Richard Ruggiero, said an annual $150,000 payment from the university to replace emergency vehicles was at the heart of the offer then from the school.

Discussions resumed at the end of last year. After one session Dec. 4, Marshall and Mederos said the two sides were nearing an agreement.

The university’s board of trustees gave the current proposal to Marshall on Feb. 16. Although he passed on copies of the offer to fellow council members Mederos and Ursillo, they had only informal talks until the meeting last night.

Marshall asked townspeople to be patient while negotiations continue. He also asked people to keep in mind that although Roger Williams is a nonprofit, tax-exempt institution, the town already receives some compensation from the school.

The university pays the town about $350,000 a year in sewer-use fees, he said. In addition, the town receives an annual payment of about $600,000 from the state equivalent to a portion of the property taxes it would receive from Roger Williams, the Rhode Island Veterans Home and Brown University, which owns land on the east side of Bristol, according to Marshall.

Yesterday, Marshall would not say whether the $150,000 payment is part of the latest offer from the university. Though he refused to discuss specifics, he did say any agreement could be renegotiated by the two sides in the future.

“The language is loose enough that the agreement doesn’t lock us in,” he said. “It can be revisited.”

akuffner@projo.com