Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — Mayor David N. Cicilline tonight will deliver to the City Council his proposed municipal budget for the next fiscal year and the council’s leaders say their review of the plan will focus on taking steps to limit any proposed property tax increase.

Council President Peter S. Mancini cast Providence’s money problems in historic terms.

“It’s probably going to be, in my 17 years, the most difficult year,” he said.

The mayor’s aides have spent the last months hashing out the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Cicilline traditionally keeps his plans close to the vest until his speech, scheduled for 6 p.m. in the council chambers.

According to a statement from his office, Cicilline “is expected to outline his budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year and discuss strategies for protecting the future prosperity of Providence. He’ll also announce steps the city is taking to mitigate the severe impact of the state’s budget crisis on Providence city government and taxpayers.”

Mancini said he is anxious to see if Cicilline proposes a tax increase. No matter what the mayor proposes, the council leadership is preparing for drastic cuts across the board to prevent a second straight year of a maximum property tax increase.

“The general position of the council is going to be to hold the line on taxes,” said Council Majority Leader Terrence M. Hassett, who said that his constituents are pleading with him not to introduce a second maximum tax increase.

“So there’s going to have to be drastic reductions across city departments,” he said.

Hassett outlined a series of steps the council has in mind to slash costs, including not funding vacant positions, banning most out-of-state travel by city officials and a moratorium on any non-contractually mandated raises for union or non-union employees.

“I don’t think the council is in position to approve any raises whatsoever,” Hassett said.

Hassett also said the council will consider requiring specific City Council approval to fill any position, which would amount to a seismic shift to city policy.

“This is a defining year and it’s going to require bold leadership. I think this is the year serious changes are going to be made,” Hassett said.

In addition, perennially touted ideas such as merging departments are on the table, as far as the council is concerned.

The budget season is a protracted, months-long negotiation that has begun with the negotiations over the school budget and might not conclude until July, after the General Assembly has finalized the state’s budget and the state aid picture is clear. After Cicilline’s speech tonight, the council will schedule hearings on individual sections of the mayor’s budget plan.

One chunk of the budget — the largest piece, in fact — is already a known commodity. Cicilline will propose a school budget of $319.9 million, which is $6.7 million short of what is needed to meet the projected expenses for next year. Major cuts to school services will be needed to get the budget down to that number.

No bailout is expected from the state.

Municipalities build their budgets using the state aid figures gleaned from the governor’s budget. Traditionally, cities and towns could count on the General Assembly to increase local aid past the governor’s levels late in the spring. But last year, the Assembly reduced funding below the recommendations in the governor’s budget, leaving cities and towns reeling.

After that experience, local leaders aren’t counting on anything more from the state this year.

“I don’t anticipate any more coming from them,” Mancini said.

All those factors combined make this year historically tricky, perhaps even more so than last spring, when the city had to figure out how to close a $27-million budget gap

Last May, Cicilline proposed a $625.9-million budget that raised the city budget by $15 million — 2.7 percent — but did not raise taxes. Instead, it depended on the legislature to pass a series of bills that would allow Providence to levy fees on actions from real estate sales to cable television.

It quickly became clear that the package would fail at the General Assembly, and Cicilline turned around and introduced the maximum allowable tax increase, which in this case worked out to an increase of roughly 4.25 percent of a resident’s tax bill.

The final budget passed the council in July at $616.7 million.

To reach that number, the city cut $6.25 million from schools, $800,000 from the Fire Department and $700,000 from the Police Department. On top of that, 16 vacant city positions were not filled, for a savings of $825,000.

Providence also sold millions of dollars of city property to fill the budget hole. After years of one-time fixes like that, the sale of property is no longer an option, Mancini said.

“If we make cuts, we’re going to have to affect city services. Obviously, we can’t sell anything; we’ve already gone that route. We’ve sold everything. There’s nothing left to sell. We already sold the Civic Center. What’s left? What do you want to do, sell City Hall?” he said.

dbarbari@projo.com