TRENTON – Legislators rejected $28.1 million in appropriations “mostly” meant to pay for bonds and interest that’s due next month, city officials said.
Mayor Reed Gusciora slammed the decision to reject the temporary appropriations resolution at Thursday’s meeting as “beyond irresponsible.”
It left city officials “scrambling” Friday to find a solution to prevent the city from defaulting on the upcoming bond payments, which are due July 15, city spokesman Tim Carroll said.
Business Administrator Adam Cruz warned council members that not paying down the past schools, water and sewer bonds could impact the city’s credit rating.
“It’s not for luxury expenditures. It’s for us to be responsible, if we don’t want to get into worse shape with Moody’s,” he said.
Legislators still voted 4-3 to shoot down the resolution. Council members Marge Caldwell-Wilson, George Muschal and Joe Harrison voted for the measure, but were overruled by the Kathy McBride-led faction.
Councilwoman Robin Vaughn was miffed that the city hasn’t yet adopted a budget for calendar year 2022, calling it a “risky proposition for a municipality that’s in fiscal distress.”
She accused state officials of allowing the city to operate “willy-nilly” without a budget in place.
“This is how we manage the city of Trenton. No wonder the FBI is here,” she said. “I will not pass another emergency appropriation, and particularly when our mayor has five subpoenas filed against him. This is no way to operate a city. We are the stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Gusciora has proposed a flat-tax $226.7 million spending plan, which includes a tax levy of $81.9 million.
But city officials have been at an impasse after Council President Kathy McBride canceled budget hearings over a rift with the administration about having a budget officer go over this year’s spending plan with legislators.
Gusciora accused McBride of unnecessarily holding up the budget and called on state officials to bring in a fiscal monitor to oversee the process.
McBride said Thursday that hearings would likely resume after the June 7 primary.
The administration contacted state lawmakers representing Mercer County and officials at the Department of Community Affairs to apprise them of the situation, Carroll said.
He added that the city is hopeful the state would temporarily cover the bond payments if city officials cannot schedule an emergency hearing for legislators to reconsider the resolution before the bill is due.
In other news, legislators temporarily iced a $150,000 city handout to the Conservatory Mansion to sort through legal issues that arose after city officials learned the event venue declared bankruptcy and owes its creditors.
Council attorney Edward Kologi advised legislators not to vote on the resolution to award the venue the six-figure payout with federal coronavirus funds until the legal issues are resolved.
“We need to review certain aspects of this. I’m not passing any judgment on if we’re going to effectuate this or not,” Kologi said.
The city received more than $73 million in American Rescue Plan Act money. A portion of that was to go to the Conservatory Mansion, which was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The delay of the payout upset Vaughn, who alleged that the administration was discriminating against the event venue owners.
She said she’d be reporting her concerns to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Office of Inspector General about the city “arbitrarily applying their own guidelines to the distribution of ARPA funds and favoring certain citizens over others.”
Kologi said the resolution inaccurately referred to the venue as a nonprofit and the resolution lacked a funding certification from the administration demonstrating the funds are available.
“This is to protect the council. I don’t want council to be voting on something that might be legally defective,” Kologi said.
Ultimately, council voted 4-3 to withdraw the resolution until a later date, after being told by law director Wes Bridges that the city needed to ensure the $150K actually goes toward the venue and isn’t siphoned off “to pay creditors.”
And finally, Trenton Animal Rocks endured another round of attacks as legislators passed an ordinance to increase staffing at the embattled shelter.
The nonprofit was locked out of the city animal shelter months ago, a day after legislators voted down a $375K contract renewal.
The organization’s founder, Danielle Gletow, attempted to stand up for her employees after city resident Paul Bethea claimed TAR treated the shelter like a “cash cow.”
But she was shut down by McBride, who thundered, “You’re not gonna question me,” when Gletow pressed the legislative leader about why Bethea was allowed to assail the organization without being interrupted.
The passage of the ordinance enabled hiring of four animal attendants, half of them part-time, who will tend to about 700 dogs and cats that run through the shelter each year.
Applicants for the positions do not need college degrees and will make between $27,773 and $43,441.
The city will contract for veterinary services, which could run six figures.
TAR made out its services to be a bargain, and a volunteer this week accused the council president of having a vendetta against nonprofit.
McBride showed up unannounced to the shelter last week to apparently berate city employees for not keeping better tabs on who was milling about the premises.
McBride and other council members complained about Gletow livestreaming from the no-kill facility after TAR’s contract ended, calling it a “liability” issue for the city.
They expressed desire for trained and credentialed city animal shelter workers to train new incoming employees after some residents suggested during public comment that TAR officials should handle that duty.
“We don’t need TAR,” Vaughn said. “You don’t need a degree from MIT to work at the animal shelter.”
Caldwell-Wilson, a longtime proponent for the shelter, admonished colleagues for the attacks on TAR, saying volunteers continue caring for animals at the shelter out of the kindness of their hearts.