On Tuesday, the Council is holding a budget workshop focusing on the Utilities Department budget proposal for FY22. We are holding workshops with all the City departments earlier this year so that they have time to incorporate Council feedback before the budget is finalized. As I have said many times, the City budget must reflect our community’s values and prioritize our year-round community. The Council needs to have a full understanding of all parts of the budget in order to have an in-depth discussion and debate on how we decide to allocate the City’s resources.
This Wednesday at 5pm, the City Council will be meeting for a workshop for discussion on our food truck regulations. Two years ago, we spent many hours and multiple meetings to develop a set of consistent regulations to allow food trucks and food carts in Newport for the first time. We knew at that time that we would need to revisit the topic as we learned what does or does not work for Newport. With Wednesday’s workshop, the Council can work with City staff, food truck operators, restaurant owners, and the community at large to do a review of our ordinances and discuss concerns that have been raised after two seasons of allowing mobile food establishments on our streets. This is a great opportunity to take a view of the big picture and apply lessons learned across the city.
As you probably have heard, Rhode Island cities and towns will be getting millions of dollars in federal aid to help municipalities deal with the impacts of the past year. Newport is estimated to receive at least $2.3 M of this COVID-19 relief funding. We need to start planning now on how to properly allocate this funding and make sure that it is spent where it is needed most. There are gaps in our budget left by the impacts of COVID-19 and the downturn in the economy. Let’s start there.