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WwkVoter, you make several good points. Distinguishing between the tax levy [meaning the actual dollars to be raised through taxation] and the tax rate [meaning the dollars-per-$1,000 in assessed value] is an important detail to keep in mind.

Also, as you correctly point, the tax hike may not be enough on its own to fund city operations in FY19. That raises the potential of using some of the $25 million in accumulated surpluses or trying to cut services -- but with all three municipal contracts on the table this year and the school department looking for more funding, that seems highly unlikely.

From their comments reported in other articles, city council members seem to be looking for sympathy in the midst of the recent mayoral transition -- like this quote from Councilman Ladouceur: “We did a good job on a lousy hand."

http://warwickonline.com/stories/police-city-worker-pacts-put-on-hold,134548?

What is really happening is that, after many years of steadily chipping away at the mayor's authority [budget veto overrides, requirements to notify the council of staffing changes, dragging out the vote on funding the new school contract, passing the FY18 budget that left a $4.2 million deficit], the Democratic party now has complete control of municipal operations -- and now they're facing the proverbial music.

They don't have a Republican mayor -- remember, the one who told them that their FY18 budget would not work? -- to hide behind or blame anymore.

Granted, Mayor's Avedisian's departure was abrupt -- but if it had happened after an election, there would not have been much more time to organize a transition, so complaining about the short amount of time they have to address the budget is disingenuous.

So, I don't have any sympathy for the city council. They have two out of three contracts ready for approval [although as the article linked above explains, they're not going to vote on them until July 16 because apparently they haven't read them yet] and were left with a budget proposal that included no tax increase.

This is what the council has been waiting for -- and now they have it. What's that old proverb?

"Be careful what you wish for -- you just might get it."