©2017 BREEZE PUBLICATIONS INC.
Breeze
THE VALLEY
FREE
AUGUST 3-9, 2017
Serving North Smithfield, Blackstone and Woonsocket
BREEZE PHOTO BY ROBERT EMERSON
BRIANNA GOLDBERG, 13, of North Smithfield, spends a summer evening by relaxing with a book
at Pacheco Park. She was reading "Invisibility" by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan.
NORTH SMITHFIELD –
Bills charging residents a tax
rate of $16.81 per $1,000 on
residential real estate were
finally sent out last Friday,
but with the town budget
up some $100,000 from the
figure approved at the end
of June, two former Budget
Committee members are
questioning the legality of
North Smithfield's process
this year.
Mike Rapko and Michael
Clifford have filed a com-
plaint with the Office of the
Attorney General stating
that the budget increase was
not properly advertised on
the Town Council's July 17
agenda, and was in violation
of the Open Meetings Act.
Town Councilor Daniel
Halloran, meanwhile, has
asked that reconsideration of
the July 17 decision to tack
on the $100,000 be placed
on the agenda for the coun-
cil's next meeting.
"We're the stewards of
the taxpayers' money and I
don't think we're doing the
right thing," Halloran told
The Breeze this week.
The council approved the
budget, a roughly $43 mil-
lion fiscal plan for 2018 that
included a contingency figure
of $425,000,
at a June 29
meeting.
The Town
Charter
dictates that
final adop-
tion of the
budget shall
be voted no
later than June 30, unless the
process is extended by state
law.
But two
weeks later,
concern
over a bud-
get impasse
at the
state level
led Town
Administrator Gary Ezovski
and School Committee
Chairman James Lombardi
to recommend councilors
amend the document to add
on a second contingency
fund to cushion any poten-
tial shortfall in state aid to
schools. The pair said the
district stood to lose up to
$300,000 if officials don't
approve a budget plan for
Rhode Island, a process nor-
mally completed by the start
of summer.
State leaders this week
announced an agreement
on their budget impasse,
and Gov. Gina Raimondo is
Tax bills out in NS,
but some question
legality of increase
By SANDY SEOANE
Valley Breeze Staff Writer
sandy@valleybreeze.com
CLIFFORD
HALLORAN
Curl up with a summer read
See TAX BILLS, Page 20
WOONSOCKET –
Scattered murals and inspi-
rational quotes, painted
by students over the past
decade, liven the corridors
of a four-story building on
Main Street.
It's summer now, and
mostly quiet as administra-
tors prepare for the next
batch of students at Beacon
Charter High School for the
Arts.
Michael Skeldon, Beacon's
former principal and the
school's current CEO, is
ready to assume a new role
as superintendent of what
is now the Beacon system
of schools. The charter high
school extended its reach
to a new building on Social
Street in 2015, launch-
ing sister school Founders
Academy to serve students
in grades 6-8, and prepare
them for Beacon's arts-
focused education.
That move marked a major
New leadership team moves
Woonsocket charter school forward
By SANDY SEOANE
Valley Breeze Staff Writer
sandy@valleybreeze.com
See LEADERSHIP, Page 6
