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$16 million temp budget voted down | Paterson Times

$16 million temp budget voted down

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A $16 million temporary budget for February was voted down last night at the City Council transporting the old fight between the mayor and the council into the new year.

At the start of the new fiscal year, in the summer of 2012, Mayor Jeffrey Jones dragged his feet in preparing a budget for the city which culminated into a full blown tussle between the two branches. In July not a single City Council Members attended the mayor’s State of the City address which demonstrates the deep personal enmity between them. It has been some months since, and there is still no final budget.

Council members implicitly seem to be saying the mayor is completely unconcerned with the financial situation of the city. The reason for voting against the temp budget was that Mr Jones has yet to provide an explanation to the City Council as to how he intends to plug a $8.5m shortfall.

These fights seem to always end with no winners. Last year the City Council attempted all sorts of maneuvers to pressure Mr Jones but with little success; at one point it refused to pass a temporary budget, just like last night, but a week later it conceded.

For now Mr Jones is waiting to hear back from the State to see how much money it will provide in Transitional Aid. It will be unsurprising to see a temp budget passing next week.

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