Trenton is in deep financial trouble, according to city hall insiders, who have revealed that Assistant Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez and other officials have begun meeting with department heads and calling for across-the-board budget cuts.
This comes after it was reported widely in Trenton's online community that Mr. Gonzalez was expected to make an appearance at City Council to make the legislative body aware of the city's sudden financial crisis, but now it seems that crisis has resulted in every city department facing a possible double-digit budget slash.
Also allegedly on the monetary chopping block is a proposal originating with City Council members Gino Melone and Jim Coston to add 50 officers onto the police force.
The revelation that Trenton's business officials are now in emergency mode follows a truly odd city budget process that saw the city's budget introduced at such a late time that nearly three quarters of the fiscal year had already passed.
Reasons cited for the delay by Palmer administration officials were numerous measures designed to avert what was purported to be a disastrous fiscal situation.
But that now seems to be occurring anyway, regardless of the fiscal gimmicks touted by Mayor Palmer and his officials. It begs the question - what exactly have these people been doing with the city's finances?
This year saw the sell off of valuable water infrastructure, the sale of a potentially lucrative interest in a local energy company, and an application for emergency state aid, and despite all of that, Trenton ended up with a nice-sized tax hike with another one already looming next year.
About the state of the city's finances, it is often heard that one need only kick in the front door of City Hall to get the entire rotten structure of the city's finances to come down.
Apparently someone kicked down the door this month.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
More fiscal woes for T-Town
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This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been watching the way the current administration has operated these past several years.
Wasteful spending, self-promotion and exhorbitant fees paid for professional services to outside (and most often non-local) providers have drained the city's resources.
Campaign contributors (can you say "Torricelli?") get buildings for a buck, sizeable chunks of Urban Enterprise Zone funds, and virtually steal land from other interested parties with the help of City Hall. Yet long-time local businesses are forced to shutter and/or relocate.
Where are the big ticket, big time, highly touted development projects like Trenton Town Center, Performa, or the residential units slated to go in around the Hughes Justice Complex?
Where are the services for our tax dollars? The streets are a mess...and not just with litter.
Our parks are overgrown, understaffed and ripe with human and animal waste.
At times walking through Trenton is like walking through a third world city.
No wonder our Police Director doesn't want to follow the law and live here!
Yeah...Trenton is broke and broken. And there are more than just "circumstances" to blame.
There is an ethically bankrupt administration at the heart of our city's current low point.
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