Newport Fire Department has outgrown its headquarters
At Newport Fire Station One, fire trucks just barely fit inside the station garage, which was built when fire trucks were much smaller.
Local news is the bedrock foundation upon which regional, national and international news is built, and it’s hard to beat when it comes to news that impacts its readers the most directly. However, unless you’re already a regular reader or local politics junkie, it might be hard to keep track of every newsworthy thing going on in your community.
That’s why the Newport Daily News has compiled a list of storylines to keep an eye on in 2025: to serve as a guide for those interested in reading more local news in the new year as well as a refresher for those for whom the local news is as common on their breakfast table as a fresh cup of coffee.
Omitted from the main list but worthy of acknowledgement are the changes made post-election to the city’s two major elected bodies: Newport City Council and Newport School Committee, as their decisions impact the progress of these storylines as 2025 marches along.
Spending on the Infrastructure Bond
Speaking of the election, in November, 71.9% of Newport voters approved a ballot question that allowed the city to borrow $98.5 million in general obligation bonds with plans to use the money on infrastructure improvements and projects the city had not yet been able to fund. While there is a list of projects with cost estimates for which the funds are designated, City Manager Colin Kennedy and the rest of City Administration have been careful to note that neither the projects nor their costs are set in stone, and Newport City Council is allowed to “prioritize projects and reallocate proceeds from one project to another,” according to the resolution that put the question on the ballot.
Spending on the bond has already begun, as Newport City Council approved using $1.48 of the bonds to rebuild Elm Street Pier, which was included under the $2 million in bond funds slated for “Pier Improvements.”
The conclusion to the construction of Rogers High School
The process to construct, and more pressingly fund, the new Rogers High School building has been largely an uphill battle since the original $98.5 million bond was approved by voters in 2020. The unexpected inflation spike as a result of COVID-19, which hit the construction sector particularly hard, resulted in ballooning costs for which the School Building Committee is still seeking funding.
Part of the aforementioned infrastructure bond has been earmarked to go toward the project’s completion, although it’s mainly targeted at funding the removal of the dirt piles generated during the project’s construction, an initially unexpected expense for which residents living near the site have pushed since the soil tested high for several contaminants.
Most recently, Newport City Council approved an additional $2.9 million commitment toward the project at the School Building Committee’s request, with hope it will get the project its Certificate of Occupancy, a benchmark the project needs to pass in order for the city to get reimbursements from the state’s Necessity of School Construction program.
As additional funding needs are shored up, so too is the construction on the building itself. The building committee’s Dec. 9 meeting brought news of finishings and furniture purchases for the interior. The team is expecting to receive keys to the building in May, although site work could continue into Spring 2026.
Recent local moves from the Navy and NOAA
As the city’s largest single employer, Naval Station Newport (NAVSTA) and its staff college, the U.S. Naval War College, continue to be major players in shaping Newport.
Often quiet in its operations, the Navy and War College had a few major headlines in 2024 that could have impacts that play out in 2025. In September, the council passed a resolution to get further insight into a Naval War College report leaked to Councilor Angela Lima called “Project 150: Building Capacity: Fulfilling a Vision.” Although the full document has yet to be made public, Lima said it assessed the feasibility for the Navy to construct a Warfighting Center and a new educational and cultural complex, the estimated total cost of which was about $95.5 million.
Newly inducted Naval War College President Admiral Darryl Walker and the organization’s Public Affairs Officer Pete Pagano both said the multi-year-long project was still in its infancy and working its way through the Navy internally, which is why the group had not yet consulted the city on the matter.
That was not the only news coming out of the station, however. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration held a groundbreaking ceremony in May for its new Marine Operations Center-Atlantic at NAVSTA. The project is expected to be completed by 2027 and create 200 jobs, although many of those workers will be at sea for much of the year.
City efforts to manage widening revenue gaps through taxation
Despite its flourishing tourism economy and skyrocketing property values, the City of Newport itself is a little strapped for cash, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdowns. News that the city has approximately $500 million in unfunded or deferred capital investment projects needed to be completed over the next five years led the council to start identifying additional sources of revenue, among them the booming hospitality and tourism sector.
Then-Councilor Mark Aramli sponsored two resolutions that sought additional tax revenue from the region’s tourism industry: one that would allow the city to collect and retain an additional 2.5% lodging tax on local hotels and another that would allow the city to impose a 9% ticket and admissions tax on local attractions that sell over 100,000 tickets per year. Both failed to pass the General Assembly, however, with both House Bill 8132 (the ticket tax) and House Bill 8133 (the lodging tax) being held for further study in May and never taken up again.
It remains to be seen whether revenue sourcing through the tourism industry will continue into 2025, as newly appointed Mayor Charlie Holder sits on the Board of Directors for the RI Hospitality Association, which advocated against both bills at the House Finance Committee. However, two of Newport’s four elected General Assembly members, Rep. Marvin Abney and Sen. Louis DiPalma, serve as chairs on their bodies’ respective Finance Committees.
Another method to accrue revenue is continuing operation through 2025, as the city prepares for the first reenrollment period of the two-tier residential property tax program it adopted in 2022. The bifurcated rate system was designed to relieve full-time residential property owners of some of the cost-burden of funding the city by discounting their tax rate while making part-time residential property owners and landlords pay a larger rate.
Efforts to address the housing crisis
One of the last major decisions delivered by the Newport City Council in 2024 was the rejection of the official purchase agreement that would have turned the former Coggeshall Elementary School building into multifamily housing. After a year of silence on the project, the council’s chosen vendor BCM Realty, which previously converted the former Cranston Calvert School into apartments, offered $1 million for the building in exchange for building 26 dwelling units within the building and six additional units in three duplex structures on the same property.
One of the main factors that resulted in the agreement being shot down was a provision that would have allowed BCM Realty to rent out units at market rates in the future, rather than restricting the property to provide housing at reduced “workforce housing” rates as many in the city hoped it would. The agreement would have reduced the property’s tax assessment value to the $1 million for which it was purchased rather than its current $4.76 million worth, giving the business a significantly reduced tax bill for the property until it acquired a certificate of occupancy, after which the business would be allowed an 80% exemption on all real property taxes for the first fiscal year.
The redevelopment of Coggeshall School was just one of a series of housing-related resolutions passed early in the previous council’s two-year term, the others of which directed City Administration to review short-term rentals, review the city code, review the city’s zoning and historical ordinances, and look into accessory dwelling units.
Some of these, such as the addition of a chapter in the zoning code regarding accessory dwelling units, have already been actioned by Newport City Council. City Hall has also worked to bolster enforcement on illegal short-term rentals. Still, housing remains a top concern for the city as it grapples with ever-increasing property values and an unexpectedly growing population.