Word circulated Tuesday afternoon that Plainfield's aid from the state for this fiscal year is pegged at $800,000.
Though about thirty days late and more than $2 million short of the amount for which the Green/Robinson-Briggs administration asked, it will at least lay the groundwork for the Council to strike the FY2008 budget, on which is has held hearings throughout the past couple of months.
A special budget hearing is scheduled for Monday, December 17.
One has to wonder about how things will go after this year, in which the city asked for MORE than previously and received LESS. Especially when the new police contracts (3.5% per year over three years) are factored in, along with the final instalments of the state's offloading of full pension and benefits costs to local communities.
Add to this the expected outcome of the firefighter union's contract negotiation -- next up, and which traditionally follows the path broken by the police settlements -- and we are looking at continued severe budgetary pressures on the Administration.
Once upon a time, there were hopes that Plainfield's way through this morass would be both to bring residential and condo development to fruition AND to expand the business and light industrial bases along with bringing in new high-tech companies (that was the thought behind having an important fiber optic Internet line running through the city).
That was then, this is now.
The Green/Robinson-Briggs administration is focused only on residential-retail mixed use development.
Will the policy of putting all its eggs in one basket succeed?
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, do not expect tax relief any time soon.
-- Dan Damon
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1 comments:
The City really needs to get their act together. With the mortgage crisis that has surely hit Plainfield, rising fuel costs that effects everything from food to utility bills it is way beyond time for the City to recognize the burden that it places upon its citizens. Just because the City fails in getting its act together why must the taxpayers (the dwindling middle-class) shoulder the burden of their inadequacy. Its time for the madness to stop, another tax increase is not the answer and if this mayor approves that, it is time for Plainfielders to replace her.
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