Woonsocket council rejects $199,500 transfer for Wall/Monument Square engineering after accounting concerns

The Woonsocket City Council on Dec. 15, 2025 rejected an ordinance to transfer $199,500 from an undesignated/reimbursement holding account to fund engineering for the long‑planned Wall/Monument Square construction project.

The motion (ordinance 25O66) was made by Councilwoman Gonzales and seconded; after extended debate about the source and status of the money, the roll call vote was No: Kenoyer, Du Bois, Sierra, President Gendron; Aye: Fox, Gonzales, Harmon; the ordinance was defeated 4–3.

Council members pressing against the transfer said the entry appeared to be reimbursement money from earlier grant‑funded spending that had been left in a separate nonmajor fund because of past accounting errors. Councilman Kenoyer and others asked for clearer financial reports and more recent audits before drawing on what they called a fragile undesignated fund balance. “We’re flying blind,” one councilor said during debate, noting the city’s small unassigned surplus and outstanding audit questions.

City staff, including the finance director, explained that the funds largely stemmed from reimbursements for projects carried out in 2023 and earlier and that the monies sat in a brownfields/reimbursement account because receivable entries were not posted when grant reimbursements arrived. The finance director said the amount in the holding account had grown and that consolidations of numerous nonmajor accounts were underway.

Supporters of the transfer argued the $199,500 would fund engineering needed to secure a larger federal award—about $5.7 million—for work on Federal Street and Waller Street, and warned that failing to spend the engineering money could jeopardize the larger grant. “If we jeopardize $5,700,000 for $200,000 engineering, that’s not wise,” the mayor and other backers said.

Opponents countered that because the reimbursements had been recorded inconsistently and the city’s audits and up‑to‑date financials were incomplete, the council should not reallocate funds that effectively repaid past expenditures. Several members said they would prefer the accounting corrected first and for staff to show precisely which prior projects had been charged to the account.

The council’s vote leaves engineering funding for the Wall/Monument Square work unresolved. Council members who opposed the transfer asked administration staff to produce clearer audit documentation and up‑to‑date financial statements before the item returns to the council.