Providence's speed camera safety fund had $184,362.75 not yet committed to any project on Oct. 2, while the city's spending plan lists $380,000 in its fiscal 2026-2027 column for pedestrian signals at four intersections: Smithfield Avenue at Silver Spring Street, Atwells Avenue at Academy Avenue, Westminster Street at Bridgham Street, and Branch Avenue at Veazie Street. Two of the plan's larger lines, the signals and a general $100,000 line for road-safety-audit improvements that the memo ties in part to Charles Street, come to $480,000, or $295,637.25 more than the uncommitted balance (our calculation).
The gap is filled by money the plan only anticipates. A memo dated Oct. 29 from Natale D. Urso, the city's managing engineer for traffic engineering, to the City Council Finance Committee was filed with the council's Nov. 5 agenda. Its spending plan lists $752,893 for fiscal 2027 in all, which began July 1, and $425,000 a year after that, all under the heading "anticipated allocation." The $752,893 equals the Oct. 2 balance plus $425,000, to the dollar. The memo does not say how much the fund has received or expects to receive.
Where the money comes from
The fund is fed by school-zone speed cameras. The city's budget ordinance for fiscal 2027 requires not less than 35 percent of that revenue, after contract costs and up to $75,000 of staff costs, to go to a dedicated fund for traffic calming and school safety initiatives. It tells Public Works to produce an annual plan and report to the council quarterly. State law sets the fine at $50 a violation. The memo does not cite the ordinance, but the ordinance's list of eligible work includes traffic studies, new signals, signs and striping.
What the money has bought and promised
Of the $327,893.35 on Oct. 2, $143,530.60 is encumbered, meaning set aside under purchase orders for work not yet paid. Actual spending in the quarter was $10,974.74. The largest encumbrance, $90,122, is a road safety audit of Charles Street. The rest is $29,050.14 for pavement markings, $15,250.15 for sign materials, $8,980 for signal parts and repairs, and $128.31 for sign installation tools.
An April 8 memo shows what the earlier plan carried. On March 31 the fund held $446,600.69, with $319,175.48 uncommitted. The April plan set aside $190,000 a year for signals at two intersections, and none had been built by October. The October plan's first column is headed "FY 2026/2027 * includes remaining from FY2026 and additional funds for FY2027," so its $380,000 is that unspent fiscal 2026 money rolled into fiscal 2027 along with the new year's $190,000. That covers four intersections, or $95,000 each (our calculation), the same per-intersection figure as in April. The Charles Street audit's purchase order, $90,122, is $37,589 (about 72 percent) above the $52,533 the April plan carried for it. The balance fell $118,707.34 from March 31 to Oct. 2, and neither memo reports deposits or April-to-June spending.
No Finance Committee meeting on the report is on the council's posted calendar through Nov. 19.
