WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — As Warwick Public Schools face a surprise mid-year $9 million deficit, Mayor Frank Picozzi is looking to form a budget commission to help the school department make cuts. "I want to have confidence that they can get done," he said. "So under existing general state laws, I want to appoint a budget committee to see them and help them with this." The City Council is scheduled to hold a special public meeting Wednesday to vote on whether or not to send a request to General Assembly to create the commission. "There's already a statutory process when a municipality has a deficit," Warwick Teachers Union President Darlene Netcoh told 12 News off-camera Friday. "I want to see how the process prescribed by law plays out." WATCH: Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi on Newsmakers 1/3/25 Picozzi said he would want to appoint three out of the five proposed members on the commission to help the school department through a process he said could take five years to fix. On Friday, a closed-door meeting was held in the city's annex building involving members of the City Council and Superintendent Lynn Dambruch. However, City Council President Anthony Sinapi told 12 News and other media outlets the meeting was private, and asked for members of the media to leave. Picozzi denied the meeting was private and spoke with reporters after. Dambruch walked away from 12 News' questions about the deficit. Both city and school leaders have been asking how the $9 million problem came to be, since it was announced late last year. "I have to say in my eight-plus years here, this hit me in the face like a two-by-four," School Committee Member David Testa said during a meeting earlier this week. The committee approved Dambruch's proposed $2,883,831 in cuts that night, which would include lunch bills, wise pension contributions, and building improvements. But Dambruch also vowed then to figure out what caused the $9 million deficit. "I understand the concern surrounding how this defector arose, and we are conducting a thorough investigation to uncover its root cause," she said. "While we have some hypothesis, it is too early to share the specifics." Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup SIGN UP NOW