Senate sends $8.7 billion FY15 budget to governor

THE R.I. SENATE has approved the fiscal 2015 state budget, which will now go to Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee for signature. / COURTESY JACK NEWTON, VIA <a href=FLICKR/ CREATIVE COMMONS" title="THE R.I. SENATE has approved the fiscal 2015 state budget, which will now go to Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee for signature. / COURTESY JACK NEWTON, VIA FLICKR/ CREATIVE COMMONS"/>
THE R.I. SENATE has approved the fiscal 2015 state budget, which will now go to Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee for signature. / COURTESY JACK NEWTON, VIA FLICKR/ CREATIVE COMMONS

PROVIDENCE – The Senate on Monday approved the $8.7 billion state budget for fiscal 2015 by a vote of 32-5, submitting for the governor’s signature a budget that cuts the state’s corporate and estate taxes, provides for repayment of the 38 Studios bonds, eliminates the Sakonnet River Bridge tolls and adds $33.4 million in education funding.

“While no budget is perfect, I firmly believe that given our economic challenges, this proposal invests in the expressed priorities of our constituents while also improving our state’s business climate and maintaining a reasonable safety net,” said Senate Finance Chairman Daniel Da Ponte, D-East Providence.

Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee issued a statement Monday saying he intends to sign the budget into law and commended the General Assembly for the budget’s investments in education and economic competitiveness.

The Senate-approved budget was identical to the budget passed June 13 by the House, including $12.3 million towards the 38 Studios moral-obligation bonds, a 1 cent increase in the gas tax to pay for bridge and infrastructure maintenance while eliminating the Sakonnet River Bridge tolls, and a reduction of the corporate tax rate from 9 percent to 7 percent.

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In addition, the budget requires the subsidiaries of multistate and multinational corporations to file as a single entity in Rhode Island, what is known as “combined reporting.” The state expects to net an additional $2.2 million in tax revenue under the combined-reporting policy.

A provision banning municipalities from individually voting to raise the minimum wage was also included in the final budget, prompting a hunger strike by three Providence hotel workers and a Central Falls city counselor who had promised to protest the ban.

Prior to the inclusion of the ban in the budget, the Providence City Council had voted on June 12 to hold a referendum in November on raising the minimum wage for hotel workers to $15 an hour.

Unite Here 217, the union that helped organize the petition to the city council, issued a release Tuesday morning stating that the hunger strike would proceed as planned.

The budget also eliminates $52 million in new state historic tax credits from Chafee’s budget as well as $24.3 million in raises for state workers negotiated by Chafee’s administration this spring, cuts that were made in order to help close the $67 million budget gap.

Bond proposals that will go to referendum in November under the fiscal 2015 budget include $125 million for the renovation and expansion of the University of Rhode Island’s engineering complex, $45 million to fund construction of a parking garage on lots next to the Garrahy Judicial complex in Providence, $53 million for environmental and water infrastructure projects and $60 million for a runway extension at T.F. Green Airport.

The General Assembly granted $1.1 million from the state’s share of video-lottery terminal income to boost marketing efforts at Twin River Casino in the face of increased competition across the border in Massachusetts. Twin River had requested $3.6 million.

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