PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- The Providence Public School District has repeatedly been late in making its contributions to the state pension plan for teachers over the past year, spurring Rhode Island officials to mull whether to withhold state aid from the capital city, Target 12 has learned. The pattern of late payments -- a sign of cash-flow problems -- has come as city, district and state officials have clashed over whether the city is contributing enough money to the state-run school district. Target 12 obtained emails showing the issue started bubbling up as early as late last year when Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island chief financial officer Stacey Whitton emailed district leaders expressing concerns over their repeated failure to make timely contributions. ERSRI manages a statewide pension plan for all teachers in Rhode Island, splitting the cost between state and municipal taxpayers. In a December email, Whitton said PPSD owed $3 million, and it wasn't the first time they'd been late. "Please advise when the wires will be received, otherwise your organizations will be placed on hold for state aid," Whitton wrote in a Dec. 14 email. "This is becoming very tedious on the ERSRI staff to continuously monitor the payment status of an employer as this is the second month in a row that we have had to reach out for a payment status update," she added. In June, Whitton emailed district employees again, cautioning them that PPSD was "severely past due" on nearly $4 million in pension payments, with an additional $1.3 million payment coming due the following day. "This needs to be resolved immediately," she wrote on June 4. "Please advise." 'Place Providence School Dept. on hold' Making timely pension payments has been a pain point in Rhode Island for decades, and it was part of the impetus for the controversial 2011 pension overhaul that sought to improve funding levels across the state-run system. Historically, government entities promised employees to tuck away money each month to ensure there was enough cash on hand to pay out benefits to teachers, police and fire, municipal employees and other government officials once they retired. But public leaders fell into the poor financial habit of shortchanging or foregoing monthly pension payments, quickly resulting in underfunded plans with some even facing the possibility of becoming insolvent. In exchange for the state contributing 40% of the cost of the teachers' plans, municipalities agreed not to fall behind or miss payments. Otherwise, Rhode Island would have the authority to withhold state aid, a threat that's been hanging over Providence for nearly a year. And last month, state officials appeared to have had enough with the trend. In an internal email, ERSRI controller Erica Kwiatkowski asked colleagues inside the R.I. General Treasurer's Office, "Can you please place Providence School Dept. on hold from receiving state aid?" "They are delinquent in paying retirement contributions," Kwiatkowski wrote on Sept. 9. The request to halt state aid was passed along to the R.I. Department of Administration, where officials said it wasn't possible to only withhold aid from the school district. "Providence School Dept. is part of city of Providence," DOA's Linda Costa responded the same day. "Please note that we can't pick and choose which invoices are held so no payments at all will go the city of Providence if we put them on hold." The prospect of stopping all state aid to the city gave Treasury officials pause. Providence received more than $80 million in state aid last fiscal year, according to budget documents, through funding streams like PILOT payments, library aid, and car-tax reimbursement. "I do not think it would be a good idea to place the entire City of Providence on hold for this as [the state] cannot just hold School Dept. payments," Treasury chief fiscal manager Brian Conklin responded. Ultimately, Kwiatkowski decided against the move, saying the district was "sending us some money tonight." "We will keep an eye on this," she added. 'Cash flow problems' As of last week, Treasury spokesperson Michelle Moreno-Silva said PPSD had caught up on all of its past-due payments. PPSD spokesperson Jay Wegimont acknowledged the district -- which has been under state control since 2019 -- has been facing "cash-flow challenges." "The delays are due primarily to the lack of sufficient funding from the city of Providence, which can lead to cash-flow challenges for PPSD at times in the year when large expenditures occur or when PPSD is awaiting reimbursement for certain grants," Wegimont said. "As has been shared extensively for months, the district has been facing increased financial strain due to the city’s ongoing failure to fully meet its funding commitments for local contributions," he added. Wegimont also highlighted that before the state intervention in 2019, "there were instances of payments to ERSRI being delayed much longer in some cases by as much as three months." He provided emails between state and district employees from December 2019 -- a month after the state takeover -- showing Providence owed at least $7.2 million. PPSD and R.I. Department of Education leaders have been battling Providence Mayor Brett Smiley's administration over school funding for months. The two sides are currently locked in a legal battle over how much the city should be contributing to the district under the Crowley Act, the law which allows the state to take over control of local school districts. The issue came to a head again last week when Smiley called a news conference to publicly slam Superintendent Javier Montañez. He said the state-hired superintendent threatened to implement district-wide cuts if the mayor didn't provide $10 million in additional city funds to the schools beyond what's already been allocated in the current budget year, which began July 1. Smiley spokesperson Josh Estrella said the district "did not notify the city in advance about these missed [pension] payments." "While I can't speak directly to any passed payment delays in prior administrations, this administration has prioritized responsible budgeting practices since day one," Estrella added. "This further highlights the need for an external audit so that the city, and the public, can better understand where these critical dollars are being spent." Eli Sherman ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook.