Providence Mayor Brett Smiley signs the fiscal year 2026 budget at his City Hall office on July 15, 2025. Standing from left to right are Providence City Councilors Pedro Espinal, Helen Anthony and Rachel Miller. Anthony chairs the council’s finance committee and Miller is Council President. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
An unusually lengthy saga to craft Providence’s 2026 fiscal plan concluded Tuesday morning with Mayor Brett Smiley signing what he called “the most difficult budget” since his tenure began in 2023.
“We passed a balanced budget, and we did so without making cuts to city services while still making real sacrifices, to demonstrate both our own belt tightening, and to make sure that the burden of this year’s budget was not put exclusively on our taxpayers,” Smiley told reporters at a Tuesday morning press event in his City Hall office immediately before he added his signature to the budget…