Paterson city council, in an effort to force the mayor’s hand, voted down a temporary budget measure during its last meeting.  Mayor, Jeffery Jones, has been running the city using temporary budgets, for the past few months — the new 2013 fiscal year started on July 1st, 2012. It should be noted, that Mr Jones’s intransigence with the budget proposal is to blame for the present squabble; he has yet to present a finalized budget for the new fiscal year, which started three months ago.

As a result hundreds of city employees are at risk of being left unpaid in the coming weeks despite doing their share of work, if the a temporary budget falters during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

During the last vote, the temp-budget faltered because of a single vote, but this time around it may pass, if city council members concede defeat in their brinkmanship with the mayor.