Providence wants to more than double the space it rents from ProvPort Inc. to store road salt, from 20,000 to 47,683 square feet, which would raise the most the city could pay under its leases to $194,043.19. The City Council's Special Committee on Ways and Means takes up the change at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Committee "B" on the third floor of City Hall, according to the meeting page. Figures in the city's own papers do not all match.
The item is Resolution 54943, referred Oct. 15. It asks the council to approve the Board of Contract and Supply's ratification, which is approval after the fact, of the first amendment to the lease under Section 21-26(b)(4) of the city code.
What the city is paying for
In a Sept. 24 letter to Mayor Brett P. Smiley, who chairs the board, Department of Public Works Director Patricia A. Coyne-Fague wrote that the department needs the extra 27,683 square feet to house more material this winter and a structure it intends to place over it. She wrote that the garage space is integral to the need for "swing space" for vehicles and items that must be moved while the new DPW garage is under construction.
The added area takes effect Sept. 1, 2026, at $3.73 per square foot a year, and the amendment runs through May 31, 2027, according to the attachment to the resolution, which is also in the committee packet. A department spreadsheet projects rent of $14,821.47 a month on the larger area, about 2.4 times the $6,210 a month in DPW's May 7 request for the 20,000 square feet. The space grows by about the same factor.
DPW began using the added area in August under a verbal agreement with ProvPort, the letter says, and asks for ratification because of the "exigent need." The amendment also applies $3.73 retroactively to June 1 through Aug. 31 on the original 20,000 square feet. The city would owe the difference from the $3.60 rate it was billed, as a separate line item on the first invoice after the amendment is executed.
The amendment sits on top of two earlier leases. The board approved a six-month lease on Nov. 3, 2025, at $6,000 a month, for up to $36,000, after the city went out for bids on Aug. 12, 2025, re-advertised three times and received none. On May 18, 2026, it ratified a 14-month lease from May 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, for up to $86,940.
Where the figures disagree
The $194,043.19 total equals $36,000 plus $86,940 plus $71,103.19. Two figures in the packet do not match that arithmetic or each other.
First, the table in DPW's Sept. 24 letter lists the 14-month lease at $89,940. Its column would then sum to $197,043.19, not the $194,043.19 it shows. The letter's own text, the May 18 board memo and the spreadsheet all use $86,940. The $3,000 difference is about 1.5 percent of the total.
Second, the council agenda and the Internal Auditor's Sept. 30 letter give the amendment as $71,103.00, while DPW's letter and spreadsheet say $71,103.19. The auditor's letter and DPW's letter both give the total as $194,043.19, which matches only the $71,103.19 figure.
The packet does not explain either difference, and it includes no response from DPW or ProvPort. The amendment text in the packet states no dollar amount, and its signature lines are blank, so it does not settle either difference.
