Tonight's the Night in Warwick

As the ProJo 7to7 reports:

Increased car taxes and deep cuts to the school systems are two likely options Monday night as the City Council has to come up with a budget for fiscal 2011 that is not only balanced but fills a roughly $14 million hole caused by slashed state aid.

Council members put in marathon sessions last week as they combed through the roughly $267 million budget that Mayor Scott Avedisian is proposing for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Under the City Charter, if the council cannot agree on amended version of Avedisian's budget, then the mayor's budget will stand. The public hearing on the budget ended Thursday and the council is expected to take action at Monday's meeting which begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Once the Council acts, the School Department will have an actual number from which they will have to decide how to move forward. Cut sports, activities and other things that directly affect students or go to the Warwick Teachers Union (WTU) and Warwick Independent School Employees (WISE) and ask to renegotiate (or negotiate, in the case of WISE) their contracts.