Representing the People Who Call Warwick Home

Warwick taxpayers should not be forced to pay higher taxes while basic financial information is late, incomplete, or missing. If city leaders want more from taxpayers, they owe taxpayers full, current, and public answers about where the money is going.

Instead, Warwick has reached the point where the Rhode Island Auditor General had to warn city and school officials that required financial reports have not been filed as the law requires. That should alarm every resident who pays a tax bill.

The missing or incomplete reports include monthly financial updates, budget-to-actual reports, the adopted-budget survey, and a five-year budget forecast—the very reports that show whether revenues, spending, debt, and liabilities are under control.

These are not minor paperwork issues. They are the warning lights on the dashboard. When they are ignored, taxpayers do not get transparency. They get excuses, surprises, and higher bills.

Late reports mean late accountability. Incomplete reports mean incomplete oversight. And hidden warning signs almost always become taxpayer costs.

The timing makes this even worse. The latest annual financial report posted on the city Finance Department’s website is for fiscal year 2024. That means the fiscal year 2025 report was still unavailable while officials were already holding hearings on the fiscal year 2027 budget—and while the mayor and City Council approved another maximum property-tax increase.

That is not responsible budgeting. It is governing in the dark and sending taxpayers the bill.

Warwick has already paid a price for weak financial oversight. The School Department has faced recurring operating deficits, and S&P Global Ratings lowered Warwick’s bond rating from AA to AA-, citing recent school budget challenges. A lower bond rating can make borrowing more expensive just as Warwick prepares to take on major debt for two new high schools.

This is the pattern taxpayers should reject: financial warning signs come late, costs rise, and then officials tell residents there is no choice but to raise taxes. There is a choice. It starts with transparency before the damage is done.

That is why I am running for Warwick City Council as the Taxpayer Watchdog—and why this issue matters so much.

If elected, I will not let late financial reports be dismissed as routine paperwork, buried in bureaucracy, or ignored until state officials intervene.

I will demand answers in public: Which reports are late? Why were deadlines missed? Who failed to meet them? What is the recovery plan? And exactly when will Warwick be back in compliance?

When necessary, I will require the mayor, finance director, superintendent, and school finance director to answer those questions before the City Council and the taxpayers.

As a former corporate business analyst, I know what happens when deadlines are missed and numbers are not ready. You do not ignore it. You identify the problem, assign responsibility, set deadlines, measure progress, and report the results.

City government should be held to that same standard—especially when taxpayers are being asked to pay more.

My campaign is about opening city government to the people who fund it. It is about honest budgeting, long-term planning, disciplined oversight, and forcing tax increases to be the last resort—not the automatic answer.

Warwick does not need more excuses. It needs a City Council that watches the money, demands the facts, challenges bad assumptions, and refuses to let financial problems stay hidden until taxpayers are stuck with the consequences.

That is the standard I will fight for, and that is the kind of councilman I intend to be.

BOB CUSHMAN Independent Candidate for Warwick City Council — Ward 1 The Taxpayer Watchdog

Recently, I attended a meeting at the Aspray Boathouse hosted by the City of Warwick Planning Department to gather public input about possible improvements to the Pawtuxet Village park.

After a PowerPoint presentation, consultants proposed dividing attendees into smaller discussion groups. Residents objected and insisted that questions be asked openly so everyone could hear the answers. Because they spoke up, the organizers changed the format and allowed a group discussion.

Residents raised important questions about how the park is used and whether proposals such as amphitheater-style seating reflect what regular visitors actually want. When one resident asked whether the planners had observed the park during major events such as Gaspee Days or the Pawtuxet Village 5K, the answer was no.

People who regularly use a public park possess knowledge that cannot be gained from a presentation or a quiet site visit. Their experience should help shape a project from the beginning.

What happened at the Aspray Boathouse illustrates a larger problem. Warwick needs a new culture of public participation from its elected officials, one in which residents receive the information, opportunity, and respect necessary to influence decisions before they are made.

That is why Warwick Needs Open Government is a central priority of my campaign for City Council.

Taxpayers deserve access to plans, budgets, contracts, public records, and the facts behind major decisions. Presentations and supporting documents should be available online, residents should be able to ask questions publicly, and unanswered questions should be documented and answered afterward.

Modernizing public meetings also requires improving Warwick’s poor meeting audio and video. Residents attending city council meeting in person or watching from home should be able to see and hear what officials are discussing. They should also be told how public input affected the final decision.

Transparency means presenting information clearly enough for taxpayers to understand what their government is doing, why it is doing it, and how much it will cost.

The residents at the Aspray Boathouse should be commended for insisting upon an open discussion. But residents should not have to fight to be heard at a meeting advertised as an opportunity to provide input.

If elected, I will advocate for a new culture at Warwick City Hall—one that welcomes questions, respects public participation, and communicates with residents before major decisions are made.

Government works best when people understand it. An informed public creates a stronger government.

Visit my website to learn more about my open-government plan and my broader platform to keep seniors, veterans, and longtime residents in their homes, deliver better government at a lower cost, and responsibly plan for Warwick’s future. Click to read my Warwick Needs Open Government plan.