September 15, 2005
Contact: Sue Baker
For Immediate Release 738-2000, ext. 6205
Avedisian says median tax bill would reflect change in spending accountability
WARWICK – A day after he proposed that the School Committee and the Warwick Teachers Union get back to the negotiating table, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian began to detail the changes that Warwick taxpayers would see in their tax bills if the School Committee were to send their own tax bills and be responsible and accountable for the 63.39% of Warwick’s budget it oversees.
“If our tax bills solely reflected municipal services, the median residential property taxpayer would see his or her rate go down to $5.56 per thousand instead of the current $15.46 per thousand,” Avedisian said.
“The median commercial taxpayer would see the tax rate go down to $8.49 per thousand instead of the current $23.18 per thousand, and the median tangible taxpayer would see rates reduced to $11.32 from the current $30.91 per thousand,” Avedisian said.
[Note: the motor vehicle excise tax is frozen by General Assembly action and would not be altered by the newly announced Avedisian plan.]
“For the average residential taxpayer, (with an assessed value of $204,400), tax bills would go from $3,160.02 to $1,156.90. The average commercial taxpayers would see a reduction from $20,773.92 to $7,608.74 and the average tangible taxpayers would see bills drop from $3,418.65 to $1,251.99,” Avedisian continued.
“We are able to provide all municipal services – police service, fire and rescue services, public works, parks, recreation, youth services, libraries, human services, and all the functions that we perform here at City Hall and in the Annex building for 36.61% of the entire budget calculation. Maybe splitting the two entities will allow for greater accountability among both municipal and school services,” Avedisian concluded.
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