Council worries Trenton’s flat-tax ‘Trojan horse’ budget could cost residents in long haul
TRENTON >> Legislators are worried that Mayor Reed Gusciora’s new proposed flat-tax budget is a “Trojan horse.”
The administration said Tuesday it worked closely with state officials to slash about $1.7 million from Gusciora’s fiscal year 2021 introduced budget of $231.1 million, which called for a 10-cent bump in the municipal tax rate.
The savings in the newly finagled budget — if adopted — could keep Trentonians from a tax increase for the third straight year.
The administration hailed the flat-tax budget as a big win, saying it was realized without the need for layoffs or service cuts for Trentonians.
The city also isn’t expanding much-needed services, officials admitted.
Most of the savings were achieved by leaving unfilled vacancies that were budgeted for in Gusciora’s proposed spending plan, with just three months left in the fiscal year, officials said, although council members were skeptical of those claims.
They expressed deep concerns about ballooning increases in certain line items and steep cuts in crucial areas, including $1.3 million to the overall police budget after a year of record-setting homicides.
“This could possibly be a Trojan horse,” at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley said, referring to the fake peace offering the Greeks used to overtake Troy.
Blakeley worried that the
administration and state officials were using the guise of an “austerity budget” to convince Trentonians that no increase is good but he and colleagues worried about long-term “degradation of municipal services.”
“We all know the DCA, they’re interested in lessening the size of Trenton’s government,” he said.
West Ward Robin Vaughn lamented about a quartermillion dollars in reductions to recreation and culture, the former which Gusciora touted as one of the most important and historically underfunded departments in the city.
“People spend more than that on their family’s wedding,” she said of the new proposed culture line item, calling the overall spending plan an “absolute disgrace.”
Gusciora did not respond to a phone call late Tuesday night but struck a more optimistic tone about the slimmed-down budget in a statement.
He said Trentonians needed relief after property taxes increased 25 of the last 29 years.
“I hear from community
members every day about the difficulties posed by the pandemic, and how the last thing they need is another tax increase,” Gusciora said. “Our City Council echoed those sentiments. Well, we heard you loud and clear. … While we cannot expand many city services at this time, we’re optimistic that substantial federal funding that is already on its way will help mitigate our shortfalls in the future.”
The amended budget was fine-tuned over several meetings with Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver and members of the Department of Community Affairs and is up for adoption at Thursday’s meeting — the deadline DCA imposed for the city to pass a spending plan.
Trenton previously faced the threat of the loss of more than $18 million in state aid because it was the last fiscal-year municipality to introduce a budget.
The city is getting $73 million under the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, as the federal government sought to help out distressed municipalities hit hardest by the COVID-19
pandemic.
City officials said those funds will be applied toward future budgets but not this one.
The city is awaiting more guidance from the feds on what it will be allowed to spend the money on.
Council president Kathy McBride was sure to remind the administration that it was the council that pushed for a tax break for Trentonians in a trying year.
Business administrator Adam Cruz acknowledged the collaborative effort that led to the supposed good news for residents.
“We can say proudly the city will be facing a zero-tax increase in this budget,” he said.
But the good news was quickly drowned by a flood of questions from disgruntled legislators who worried that the cuts would hobble already-struggling Trenton in the coming years.
Cruz went over each line item of the budget, which included cuts of $1.39 million from the police department. That included
$890,000 from the salaries and wages and $507K in operating expenses.
Capt. Peter Weremijenko stressed that the cuts were made without a decrease in manpower, following last year’s bloodbath in which Trenton tallied 40 slayings, an all-time record that eclipsed the previous high of 37.
Police pushed off an academy into the next budget cycle starting in July, as it transitions over to a calendar-year format, Cruz said.
“I don’t know about that,” Vaughn said, adding she opposed reducing the police budget by even a penny. “I don’t want crime to spike and then us say … we don’t have the resources.”
Blakeley, who often clashes with Vaughn, was lockstep with her on this one saying it wasn’t “sensible” to cut police funds.
“We all know crime heats up as the weather heats up,” he said.
Blakeley grew frustrated that the captain couldn’t address some of his questions and called out Trenton Police Director Sheilah Coley for being absent from the meeting.
Cruz explained she was out sick.
Vaughn also took the administration and DCA to task over additional cuts to housing and inspections, because it was already “pretty much defunct” and not generating enough revenue from enforcement.
The department has 10 inspectors for a city of about 83,000, Cruz said.
Ben Delisle, the housing and economic director, said safety precautions resulting from the pandemic has prevented employees from doing inspections.
“We can’t afford cutting this department,” Vaughn said.
Other line-item cuts included $75K from postage and $125K in gasoline.
McBride lamented that some of the gas money was being spent on employees who “joyride” in take-home vehicles.
There were also sharp increases to a couple line items that drew legislators’ attention.
They included a $415K increase to landfill and a skyrocketing $3 million jump to workers compensation that Cruz said was due to a rise in claims.
Legislators also scrutinized the water and sewer’s proposed $51.9 million budget.
Vaughn lambasted DCA over a proposal to use $1 million of the city’s $3.6 million in surplus funds to cover a department revenue shortfall.
She said DCA was “overstepping” its bounds and shouldn’t be telling the city how to use surplus.