BUILDING REVENUE
IN OUR CITY
Responsibly Funding Our Communities
“As a city, we need make sure public dollars are delivering real results for our neighbors. Private vendors that provide public services must be accountable to the people of Providence. ”
About the Issue
In the past three years, residential property taxes have increased twice. This is not sustainable. We can raise revenue in our city without being overly reliant on residential property taxes.
As Mayor, David will introduce a city budget that raises revenue in a variety of ways, such as increasing the commercial tax rate on industrial facilities near the Port of Providence, enforcing the city’s vacancy tax on empty storefronts, implementing large transaction fees on realty companies like Strive, and fully utilizing the Department of Inspections and Standards to enforce fines on absentee landlords with code violations.
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Home to asphalt plants, scrap metal facilities, oil and gas storage, and bulk salt operations, the Port of Providence has long been one of the most polluted areas in our state. For decades, our neighbors across South Providence and Washington Park have lived with persistent air pollution, noxious odors, heavy truck traffic, and repeated industrial fires. As Mayor, David will increase the commercial tax rate to 3.5% for industrial properties (M-2, M-MU-75, and W-3 zones) operating within a one-mile radius of our waterfront. You can see more about David’s plan to tax corporate polluters here.
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While Providence already has a vacancy tax, it’s not being fully enforced. Unfortunately, some commercial landlords would rather keep storefronts and buildings empty to benefit from federal tax write-offs than offer affordable commercial leases to local entrepreneurs and small businesses. As Mayor, David will fully enforce the city’s vacancy tax on empty storefronts and buildings. From North Main Street to Downtown Providence, this will help bring vacant spaces back to life, support local entrepreneurship, restore creativity to our commercial corridors, and strengthen the vibrancy of our neighborhoods.
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Absentee landlords will be held accountable when they allow their properties to fall into disrepair. We will not allow our neighbors and families to live in unsafe living conditions. Our administration will strengthen enforcement of housing and property maintenance codes by issuing fines for repeated code violations, related to mold, safety violations, a lack of hot water, plumbing issues, and more. By empowering the Department of Inspections and Standards to actively enforce these violations, we’ll improve the living conditions of our neighbors.
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As Mayor, David will gather the Providence delegation at the State House (15 Representatives and 8 Senators), to advocate for a collective agenda that supports our capital city. A key priority will be reforming Rhode Island’s education funding formula so districts with a high number of multilingual learners and special education students, like Providence, receive the resources they need. Our administration will also fight to secure full state aid for our public libraries, increase the state reimbursement for the repealed car tax, strengthen distressed community aid, and provide infrastructure funding for state-owned roads in Providence like Smith Street, Westminster Street, and North Main Street.
Our public dollars should be invested in real results for working families. As Mayor, David will make sure that private vendors providing public services are accountable to us. We need to end bad contracts such as red light cameras and speeding cameras that collect our private data while keeping a huge share of the ticket revenue they generate. And we must ensure that large service providers, like Waste Management, are meeting their obligations and providing quality services to our city.
How David Will Fight
Bad Contracts
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In 2024, the City of Providence collected $3.7 million in red light camera fines, yet more than $1 million of that revenue went directly to the private vendor operating the system. A quarter of revenue generated from red light camera citations should not be going to a private vendor. The same issue exists with speeding cameras near some of our public schools. In fact, Providence’s contract is actually more expensive in comparison to cities like East Providence and Pawtucket. Our vendor, the New Jersey based company, Conduent, charges Providence a fixed fee of $2,978 per camera every month and takes $7.85 from every $50 violation issued. That means Providence is paying nearly $500 more per camera each month than our neighboring cities.
These are exactly the kind of contracts that leave our neighbors shortchanged. While private contractors collect millions, Providence is leaving critical funding on the table. Funds that should be used for infrastructure repairs and traffic calming investments, from pothole repairs to the installation of raised crosswalks that make our streets safer.
As Mayor, David’s administration will work with the Board of Contract & Supply and consult with the City Council’s Finance Committee to properly review vendor proposals and negotiate fair agreements. For red light and speeding cameras, David will pursue agreements that ensure Providence keeps at least 90% of the revenue generated, while also implementing strong policies to protect the privacy of our neighbors when images of their vehicles are captured.
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Our city deserves reliable trash collection that respects our neighborhoods. As Mayor, David’s administration will amend the city’s existing agreement with Waste Management to better meet the needs of our neighbors.
David will set clear service standards and enforce them. Collection hours will respect neighborhoods so trucks are not operating early in the morning or late at night. Waste Management will be required to provide in-state customer service so neighbors can quickly reach someone who understands our city and resolve issues without long delays. This will be an improvement from today’s status quo of calling into a regional call center with long wait times. If a Waste Management truck damages a household’s trash or recycling bin, the company will be responsible for replacing it at no cost to the resident. And when regular pickups are missed, Waste Management must respond with urgency and complete the collection within a clearly defined timeframe. If they fail to do so, the city will hold them accountable through a built-in citation and penalty system written directly into the contract.
Our waste contract will prioritize service, accountability, and quality of life for our neighbors, not the bottom line of a private contractor.
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Property taxes are the single largest source of revenue for our city. However, nearly 40% of property in our city is tax-exempt, which significantly limits the funding we have to support public services, such as education and infrastructure repairs. To close this gap, Providence has had to rely on Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements with large tax-exempt institutions such as RISD, Providence College, Johnson & Wales, and Brown University.
Despite their vast wealth and extensive property holdings, private colleges and universities in Providence only pay 8% of what they would otherwise owe in property taxes under the current PILOT agreement, a deal that Mayor Smiley negotiated behind closed doors.
As Mayor, David will partner with the Providence City Council and university leaders to negotiate a new PILOT agreement that requires private colleges and universities that call Providence home to make a more equitable contribution to our city.
Providence does not have to start from scratch. In New Haven, the city reached a landmark agreement with Yale University in 2021 that substantially increased the university’s voluntary payments. That deal brought Yale’s total commitment to approximately $135 million (about 20% of what Yale would otherwise owe in property taxes).
These future PILOT negotiations will not be conducted behind closed doors. David’s administration will ensure the process is transparent and open to the public by involving neighbors, educators, and students into the process.
Once Providence secures a stronger agreement with our private universities, additional revenue will be invested directly into our public schools. Our administration would prioritize hiring and retaining the frontline staff that our students need so every school is supported by multilingual educators, social workers, psychologists, counselors, and librarians.