01:00 AM EDT on Friday, June 9, 2006

BY BENJAMIN N. GEDAN
Journal Staff Writer

WEST WARWICK -- In a surprise announcement at Tuesday's Town Council meeting, council Vice President Edward A. Giroux disclosed that he had provided The Providence Journal a copy of a confidential budget forecast that projected soaring increases in the property tax rate.

Giroux had hinted at the admission, and last week he asked that an item labeled Open Records be added to the meeting's agenda.

After the meeting, he said he had hoped to use his leaking of the document to highlight the importance of transparency in government and spark a discussion of the issue.

Giroux's disclosure, however, was met with silence from the rest of the council. And Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer used the opportunity to explain methods he will employ to keep documents secret.

"I was very disappointed because nobody wanted to say anything about it," Giroux said yesterday. "There doesn't seem to be a big willingness for anyone on the council to discuss things like that."

The 33-page document, its contents reported in the May 26 edition of the Journal, was drafted by Finance Director Malcolm A. Moore. It projected a 14.3 percent increase in the property tax rate in fiscal 2008.

Bauer distributed it to the council at its May 23 meeting, where he publicly mentioned the report. But later that week, he instructed council members not to release the findings.

Responding to Giroux Tuesday night, Bauer said he planned to stamp similar documents confidential in the future, citing the "working papers" exemption to the state Open Records Law. He said he would also bypass Town Clerk David D. Clayton in passing certain documents to council members.

Bauer was not available for comment yesterday.

Giroux, who has worked for several secretaries of state on public access to records, said he was not encouraged by Bauer's remarks.

"It sounds, Wolfgang, like you're making up your own interpretation of the law," Giroux said Tuesday night.

Yesterday, he said Bauer's "confidential" stamp would not guarantee that a document remains secret.

"When something comes up and is stamped confidential, I'm going to want a reason why it's stamped that way," Giroux said. "We have to go by the law."