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No Blank Check for Mayor Ken Hopkins

Cranston City Council votes by May 15 on Mayor Hopkins' FY27 budget. Tell them to cap the permanent property tax levy at 4% — and fund the rest with a one-time assessment.

What Mayor Hopkins Is Asking For

Mayor Ken Hopkins' proposed FY27 budget raises Cranston's total spending by $14.4 million — a 4.25% increase over FY26. He's funding it with:

  • An 8% property tax rate hike. Residential rates jump from $13.88 to $14.99 per $1,000 of assessed value. Commercial rates jump from $20.82 to $22.49. For a $400,000 home, that's an extra $444 every year — forever.

  • A 7.44% total tax levy increase. This is nearly double the 4% annual limit that Rhode Island state law sets for most cities and towns. Under RI General Law § 44-5-2, exceeding 4% requires a 4/5 supermajority vote of the full City Council, plus certification that Cranston is in an "emergency situation."

This is not a modest adjustment. This is the largest single-year tax rate increase Cranston has seen in recent memory, combined with a large new debt commitment.

Our Proposal to City Council

We are not asking Council to reject this budget. We're asking Council to fund it responsibly.

Current proposal Cranston Forward proposal
7.44% permanent levy increase
4% permanent levy increase (the state legal maximum)
All of FY27's spending baked into the permanent baseline
3.4% ONE-TIME supplemental assessment covering remaining FY27 needs, sunsetting at the end of the fiscal year
Future councils inherit the higher floor automatically
Next year's increase must be re-justified based on improved management and oversight

The city gets the same money for FY27. The difference is in the structure of the increase — permanent vs. one-time.

A one-time assessment is a well-established municipal tool that lets a city address an acute shortfall without handing the executive branch an unlimited future draw on taxpayer resources. It forces the administration to demonstrate improved fiscal discipline before coming back for another increase — which is exactly the kind of accountability Cranston needs right now.

Call Your Four City Councilors

Every Cranston resident is represented by four city councilors: one ward councilor for your neighborhood and three citywide councilors who represent every resident.

Call all four. Email all four. Thirty seconds from each of us is impossible to ignore.

Citywide Councilors (call all three)

Every Cranston resident can contact these three — they represent the whole city.

Ward Councilors (call yours)

Your ward councilor depends on where you live. Not sure which ward you're in? Look it up at vote.ri.gov.

A 30-Second Script You Can Use

Feel free to rewrite in your own words — these are the beats that matter.

Hi, my name is ____ and I live at ____ in Cranston. I'm calling to ask Councilor ____ to vote NO on the FY27 budget as currently proposed.

I'm not asking you to defund anything. I'm asking you to cap the permanent tax levy increase at the 4% state legal maximum, and cover the rest of this year's spending with a one-time supplemental assessment.

This administration is $10 million in the hole right now. Before we lock in $14.4 million in new permanent spending every year forever, the Mayor should have to earn that trust — not inherit it.

Thank you for representing Cranston. Please don't write a blank check.

Speak at the Budget Hearings

Council votes by May 15. Public testimony slots are available at the Finance Committee budget hearings held throughout late April and early May. You can testify in person at City Hall or by phone via the Council's conference line.

The full budget hearing schedule is posted at cranstonri.gov under "City Council" — look for "2026-2027 Budget Hearing Schedule."

Meetings are livestreamed on the Council's YouTube channel. You can raise a hand to speak by pressing *9 if you're on the phone, or using the "raise hand" feature if you're joining online.

Read Our Full FY27 Budget Analysis

We've published a line-item analysis of every major change in Mayor Hopkins' proposed FY27 budget — from the 66% spike in bond interest to the cuts to senior services, tree care, and Head Start, to the $2 million in capital bonding for a high school track that residents never voted on.

[Button: Read the Full Analysis →]

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is a one-time assessment legal under Rhode Island state law? A: Yes. RI General Law § 44-5-2 sets the 4% cap on permanent levy growth, but also contains emergency provisions and specific carve-outs. A supplemental assessment structured as one-time does not set a new baseline for future years — which is the entire point. If Council chooses to exceed the 4% cap permanently, it also requires a 4/5 supermajority and a formal "emergency situation" certification from the Auditor General.

Q: If we cap the levy at 4%, won't services get cut? A: Not if Council approves the one-time assessment for the remaining 3.4%. That's the whole design. The city receives the full FY27 dollars it needs. Nothing gets cut this year.

Q: Isn't this just partisan politics? A: No. This proposal would be the same whether the Mayor was a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent. Basic fiscal discipline — don't hand the executive branch a blank check after they just announced a $10M deficit — is a civic principle, not a partisan one. Cranston Forward is nonpartisan.

Q: What about Cranston Public Schools? A: The school department asked for the full 4% levy maximum. Our proposal preserves every dollar the city has committed to schools in FY27 — the cuts would come out of administrative and political priorities on the city side, not out of classroom funding.

Q: What happens if Council just passes the Mayor's 7.4% as-is? A: That $14.4 million becomes the new permanent floor. Every future budget starts from that higher baseline. Future increases would be calculated on top of it. It's a decision that bind the next mayor, and the next Council, and every Cranston taxpayer — forever.