PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Providence residents now have more time to pay first-quarter property taxes, which city officials said was a result of both delayed budget negotiations and a global IT outage earlier this month.
The deadline for Providence residents to pay their first-quarter property taxes was moved from July 24 to Aug. 16.
Mayor Brett Smiley spokesperson Josh Estrella told Target 12 the tax bills, which are scheduled to be mailed on July 1, were mailed out late due to the Crowdstrike outage. He said the final passage of the 2024-25 budget was delayed by a week, also contributing to the delay.
City Council President Rachel Miller took issue with that explanation, and said in a statement Monday that she was “bewildered by the finger pointing” and “disappointed by the unnecessary confusion” for taxpayers.
“It is puzzling that the mayor’s office would misrepresent this situation after such a fruitful and collaborative budget negotiation that resulted in increased funding for education, parks, and libraries,” Miller said.
Miller said the “administrative error” by the Smiley administration could have been corrected by including information about the grace period in the bills that were mailed out.
Estrella told Target 12 the process to finalize, print and mail tax bills takes anywhere from 10 to 14 days between the city and its external printing vendor, JLS Mailing Services. The process can’t be initiated until the budget is signed, according to Estrella.
This year, the budget received a first passage by the Providence City Council on June 20, with a final passage on June 27. Smiley signed the nearly $600 million budget into law the following day, on June 28.
“Given this tight deadline, it is not unusual for the city to extend the grace period for first-quarter tax bills,” Estrella said. “The dates printed on the tax bills will always be reflective of the required due date from the levy ordinance and cannot be changed.”
City Council Chief of Staff June Rose said Monday that throughout negotiations with the mayor’s office, “the team expressed confidence that this timeline would not affect tax bills.”
“Property tax rates were never in question in negotiations, so there was certainty about tax bills well before June 30,” Rose said.
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Screenshot from Providence City Collector’s Office page.
Estrella said the extended grace period for tax bills was communicated on the city’s website, through a PVD 311 push notification and was emailed to over 10,000 taxpayers who have an address on file. Additionally, the ability to view and pay tax bills online was not impacted by the delay, according to Estrella.
“The council worked diligently to pass the budget on time and as required by the City Charter. We communicated with Mayor Smiley throughout,” Miller added. “Sometimes, leadership means owning your mistakes. I hope that administrative mistakes like this do not plague taxpayers in the future.”
Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.