EAST PROVIDENCE — City and school officials agreed talking has to continue, but acting has to start now.

Both governing boards — the City Council and School Committee — unanimously gave their approval Tuesday night for City Manager Richard Brown to move forward with his plan to solve the city’s projected $3.2- million deficit. The one condition is he must get additional approvals from the boards before each step is taken.

“We can’t wait any longer,” Councilwoman Valerie Perry said, while briefly discussing a May 9 meeting with the state auditor general, who must approve the city’s plan. “We’ve got to start somewhere. Time is of the essence.”

Before the vote, committee Chairwoman Mildred Morris said, “Each meeting we walk away and don’t make any decisions. The longer we wait, our problems are going to get bigger and bigger.”

His five-page deficit reduction plan lists nine suggestions, including merging similar school and city departments, selling the former Grove Avenue Elementary School and two school administration buildings, and taking out a temporary bond to get the city out of the red. Brown projects his recommendations will total about $11.1 million in savings if all were put in place and accepted by the council, committee and the various unions that represent the municipal and school employees.

Mayor Isadore Ramos wants Brown to start with consolidating the school’s Finance and Buildings & Grounds departments with those that do the same on the city’s municipal side. Since interim officials head those departments currently, the mayor says he believes it is the ideal time to merge those departments immediately.

“This is the time to show the city is serious about consolidating,” Ramos said.

Brown’s plan didn’t specifically name school departments he would like combined, but he did suggest consolidating most noneducation administrative functions with their counterparts on the municipal side that he oversees. It is also consistent with suggestions given recently in a feasibility study by the Roger Williams University Institute for Public Policy, which is based in Providence. The city hired the institute last summer to complete the study, which was given to city officials late last month and should be reviewed in depth at the planned joint meeting.

Members from the two boards debated whether the school’s purchasing department should also be included in the first possible areas to merge, but Brown assured them that the steps will quickly come one after the other once all sign on board.

School Committee member Stephen DeCastro emphasized he wouldn’t be comfortable with giving his OK until he learns how Brown will specifically accomplish the merges. Brown agreed setting it up will be “the hard part,” but he remained confident.

Ramos suggests leaving the school district’s vacancies unfilled and letting the city’s Finance and Building & Grounds departments assume jurisdiction there. He said the School Department’s controller would remain to ensure the department’s “daily accounting needs are met.” The mayor also said the school custodians would continue to clean the school buildings, but all major building maintenance — such as snow plowing — will be supervised by those who head its municipal counterpart.

It is unknown if Brown’s course of action will mimic the mayor’s plan or be closer to what RWU suggested in its feasibility study. That group said phasing out the custodial and maintenance staff over a five-year period would be best. It recommended those currently in those departments should be allowed to bid on supervisory positions while vendors perform their current jobs.

The mayor said he has grave concerns that the students’ safety could be at risk if school custodians are privatized. City Councilman Robert Cusack and DeCastro also had concerns with Brown’s plan to take out a bond to get the city out of its immediate financial troubles.

The city manager’s plan suggests East Providence issue deficit reduction bonds in the amount of the total deficit for this fiscal year, which could be about $4 million with Governor Carcieri’s mid-year state aid reduction and other budget changes. He said a $4 million bond — with a five-year payback obligation and 5-percent interest rate — would cost East Providence about $5.12 million, or $1 million annually.

“My goal after that is we don’t have a deficit ever again,” Brown said Tuesday night.

Besides the consolidation, savings to repay the loan and prevent future deficits include selling the former Grove Avenue Elementary School, which is currently leased by the Montessori School. Brown said Montessori officials have recently put in an offer to buy the property at the city’s asking price: $823,000. City and school officials are still exploring the possibility and did not give a definitive yes Tuesday night.

Brown also wants to move the school’s administration offices to Martin Middle School and sell the Platt and Watters school buildings that currently house them. Brown said the properties could sell for $2 million, according to the city tax assessor and current real estate market.

The city manager will confirm whether $2 million is the most accurate price to put the buildings up for sale.

Schools Supt. Jacqueline Forbes and others also discussed using the former Union Primary School, 1310 Pawtucket Ave., for the future school administration site. Forbes says she believes the Union Primary School would be more suitable because it has its own parking and is close to the city’s high school. She said about $50,000 would be needed to renovate and ready either Martin or Union Primary for the school administration offices.

Yet Brown said the East Providence Community Center, a Rumford-based nonprofit agency, has not made any rental payments to the city for the last six years. A previous Journal article said the agency has not paid since April 2001 and was $10,000 in arrears in the summer of 2002.

Former City Manager Paul Lemont said then that he told the directors he was willing to forgive a portion of the unpaid rent if the center demonstrated financial progress, but it is unclear what was ultimately decided after that conversation.

It is part of the many things Brown will look into over the next few weeks.

apina@projo.com