UNION CITY — Union City will be awarded $13 million through Gov. Christie’s Transitional Aid to Localities program, announced New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Lori Grifa Wednesday. The aid is part of the city’s pending $101 million budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
The Transitional Aid program replaces the Extraordinary Aid, Special Municipal Aid, and Capital Cities Aid program of previous years, which was given out annually and counted on as part of local budgets, and places more stringent requirements on aid recipients.
To qualify for Transitional Aid, applicants had to prove meaningful cost reductions and a need for aid to avoid a significant increase in their property tax rate. A total of $159 million in Transitional Aid was available to N.J. municipalities operating on a fiscal year budget cycle.
Union City, and other municipalities that received Transitional Aid, must now sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing to certain State oversight, reform, and reporting as part of Governor Christie’s overall reform effort to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of local governments statewide.
Upon signing the MOU, the DCA will allocate 75 percent of a municipality’s awarded funds. The remaining 25 percent will be payable later in the fiscal year, provided the MOU are complied with and implemented.
“Our goal is to hold municipalities accountable for the taxpayer funds they receive and to return them to self-sufficiency,” Gov. Christie said in the press release. “The days of open-ended gifts of discretionary state aid, without oversight and accountability to all of New Jersey’s taxpayers, are over,” Gov. Christie said in the press release.
Award recipients will have to submit a Transition Plan detailing they will eliminate reliance on Transitional Aid and meet with Division staff at least four times a year to review the budget and fiscal progress.