The sun is going to shine in Jersey City again. While that may not have seemed the case during the dark days of the recent budget crisis, state and local officials announced on Wednesday that the city can finally breathe easy concerning $16 million in anticipated state aid coming north from Trenton. For the first time, state representatives led by Senate President Donald DiFrancesco (R-Scotch Plains) came out and said that the money is on the way. “In times like these, we always talk about how much money we’re making on the state level,” DiFrancesco said last week. “We need to share that wealth in appropriate ways.” Throughout the almost eight-month siege that saw Jersey City issue an initial 1,273 pink slips, buy out more than 100 municipal employee contracts and teeter on the brink of collapse, Trenton remained virtually silent. The state government was continually bashed at municipal council meetings for staying tight-lipped. On Wednesday, the state spoke, and the workers of this city liked what they heard from DiFrancesco. For the first time in quite a while, maybe ever, the Union Coalition – formed to find a solution to the fiscal crisis – had their questions (and prayers) answered for them in black and white. “We want to move forward and make this happen,” DiFrancesco said to the Coalition. “This is not about politics.” The budget crisis began last year when Jersey City Bret Schundler asked the state for $27.4 million in aid for the city’s $314 million budget. As the state held back, the city considered laying off more than 1,000 workers. The workers are still on the payroll, however, and the City Council has been passing temporary appropriations measures. Was constantly in jeopardy The aid package is part of a state-funded program that will spread $54 million is aid over five cities. Jersey City will join Camden, Irvington, East Orange and Paterson as the recipients of that money. The only thing standing in Jersey City’s way is a pair of votes in the senate and state assembly. On Wednesday, Senate President DiFrancesco publicly gave his vote for the cash to come through. While many of the political heavies at the Casino-in-the-Park Restaurant wore smiles on a sunny day, things were not always so rosy between the city and state representatives. The state aid, as part of its Distressed Cities program, was always penciled into the FY2000 budget. But during the four months that the City Council discussed the spending plan, the aid was constantly in jeopardy. On at least two occasions, the hot topic at council meetings was the idea that the state was not satisfied with the city’s efforts to balance its budget. Tension thickened right after Mayor Bret Schundler created a generous buyout plan rather than firing municipal workers. During the course of the financial fiasco, the city endured an audit of its expenses by state accountants that heaped all of the city’s problems on Mayor Bret Schundler’s “credit card mentality.” According to the state, the city also suffered from a major communications breakdown between the mayor’s office and the council chambers. Many pointed the attacks towards Schundler’s aspirations of running for governor next year. His opponent in the Republican primary has a very good chance of being DiFrancesco. “It’s not about running for governor or any of that,” the senator said last week. Political or not, DiFrancesco’s stock went up in Jersey City last week. “Today, Sen. DiFrancesco made a lot of friends in Jersey City,” Coalition leader Jack Shaw said. What Shaw did not mention was that for every friend the senator made this week in Jersey City, Schundler probably lost one. After he received a standing ovation from the 100-or so union heads in attendance, DiFrancesco said that throughout this crisis, it has been the unions and not the administration that the state was dealing with on an everyday basis. He affirmed that if not for the unions, his visit to Jersey City would have not happened. “I’d like to salute all of the union leaders that worked so hard for this,” State Sen. Ed O’Connor (D-Jersey City said “A lot of the credit for what’s about to happen is due to you all.” City Council President Thomas DeGise said that the budget process, as long and tedious as it turned out to be, could have been a lot worse. He has said that this year’s budget was the worst one that he has worked on in seven years on the council. “Next year it could be just as bad, or worse, again,” DeGise said. Because next year is an election year, both on the state and local fronts, such a messy budget passing is highly unlikely. In Jersey City, a mayoral election will soften the budget process, as will the state gubernatorial election. According to many local elected officials, budgets tend to pass much easier with an election on the line. “This year,” DeGise reiterated, “I asked you to judge us by our words, rather than on our actions. I would ask you to do the same thing next year.” In attendance on Wednesday, council members Bill Gaughan and Arnold Bettinger both said that next year will be different. The council hopes to have the 2001 spending plan passed by November. “I would hate to see the people of Jersey City have to deal with an election and the budget at the same time,” Gaughan said. Making a surprise entrance to the pow-wow was Mayor Bret Schundler. Schundler briefly took the podium and addressed the union leaders that felt the brunt of the layoffs imposed on Jersey City amid this year’s financial turmoil. The mayor has continued his lobbying against the current aid rate, demanding $27.4 million in aid. He said Trenton has not kept pace with inflation. It is because of that money loss, according to the mayor, that the city has been in trouble. “My question is to why we lost this money in the first place,” the mayor said. “There’s never going to be a time when Jersey City is self-sufficient. With a $300 million budget and only $100 million coming in from taxes, it just can’t happen. The state will always have the power to destroy Jersey City.”
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