Affordability & Aging
Ensure our priorities reflect our values.
Prices are high. But we can dream higher.
Our budget reflects our values.
Let’s ensure it values what we want.
North Smithfield has been discussing the Police Station renovations since 2014. In 2014, we voted to pass a $5,300,000 bond to repair the police station. Six years later, 80% of the bond had been spent, and no clear repairs had been made. Now, in 2026, we approved another $9,000,000 bond.
This is too common for our town. We just had to shift to redoing Scouter’s Hall instead of Halliwell — not out of choice, but because our indecision required a decision, and we failed to put up the final 20% needed to create a true multi-generational center.
Town budgets are tight. But our budget reflects our values. Choosing to fund one project means also choosing not to fund another. We need a budget that properly respects our elderly population and our desire to grow our town while preserving what makes it great.
Keeping our family together.
North Smithfield is growing, whether we like it or not. And in many ways, of course it is! Increasing property values reflect the value people across the state place on our stellar schools, beautiful landscape, and supportive community. But, increased property values also threaten the very population that made it great - our parents and grandparents.
Rhode Island recently confirmed that building accessory dwelling units (ADUs) is a right that we all have. These units keep families together, reduce cost burdens, and help expand the housing supply. Towns like North Smithfield could help ease this process by providing pre-approved ADU design plans, a clear and simple permitting checklist, and a dedicated point of contact in the Building Department who can walk homeowners through the process from start to finish. Government is meant to reduce hoops and make access easier.
Growth is coming - but we can define how.
North Smithfield is going to grow. For example, the consent judgment on Rankin means that project will be moving forward regardless of how uncomfortable some residents are with its scale. The question isn't whether to allow housing; it's whether we plan for it intelligently. That means clear permitting processes, honest fiscal impact analysis, enforceable environmental conditions, and a council that passes ordinances to protect roads, wells, and rural character before the next project arrives - not afterwards. We had 21 years to get ahead of Rankin Estates with groundwater overlay ordinances, blasting protocols, earth-removal standards, and road-impact protections. Instead, we repeatedly tried to deny a legally valid application, lost in court, and now have less leverage than we would have had if it had simply legislated clear standards from the start.
It’s the same with our approach to repairs. We let things fall apart until they completely fall apart and it’s a three alarm fire. Delaying these updates loses our leverage in price negotiations, costing taxpayers even more.
