Mayor, Council Head: Fiscal Monitor's Actions 'Extremely Unfortunate'

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and City Council President Peter Cunningham have sent out a joint press release, calling the State Fiscal Monitor's decision to insert $1.5 million back into emergency appropriations after City Council decided to take it out "extremely unfortunate."

During last Wednesday's council meeting, City Council approved $9 million in emergency appropriations to carry the city through February and March, in anticipation of passing the budget. 

Originally, emergency appropriations were supposed to be roughly $11 million, but council amended it after requesting that $2 million in "salary adjustments" be taken out of the appropriations. The $2 million was to be set aside to be used to pay for salary adjustments if the city reaches a new contract with the police union. The assumption is that back pay would be paid to police officers under any agreement. 

After a heated back-and-forth with Finance Director Nick Trasente during the council meeting, the $2 million was taken out, and the emergency appropriations were passed. (Council members Beth Mason and Michael Russo voted against the appropriations.)

But State Fiscal Monitor Judy Tripodi decided to insert $1.5 million back into the appropriations, something neither the City Council, nor Mayor Zimmer, were aware of until reading Mile Square View, a local blog. Because of city officials' failure to properly handle Hoboken's budget in the past, the state appointed Tripodi in 2008 and gave her the authority to overrule council actions.

"Ms. Tripodi's action is extremely unfortunate," Zimmer and Cunningham wrote in the statement. "Temporary emergency appropriations should only be used to cover actual expenses for a limited period of time until a final budget is adopted. They are not intended to pre-fund costs of an unapproved labor contract that would in any event not be payable until after the period covered by the requested resolution."

Zimmer and Cunningham said they have made their concerns known to Tripodi. Technically, Tripodi has the authority to overturn the City Council's decisions and she will ultimately be the one approving the budget, when it passes. 

During a special budget workshop on Saturday, Jan. 30, Fourth Ward Councilman Michael Lenz urged Tripodi to consult City Council on her decisions. "I intend to negotiate a fair contract for the employees and most certainly for the city," Tripodi said during that workshop. 

When Lenz expressed his wish that Tripodi would work together with City Council in taking decisions, Tripodi answered, "I'd like nothing but that."

In a phone interview Wednesday morning, Lenz said Tripodi's decision does not help, and in some ways undermines and contradicts what she was brought in to do: create fiscal stability. 

"Emergency appropriations are for emergencies," Lenz said, adding that a contract that has not been presented to the council yet does not meet that standard.

Lenz, too, read about Tripodi's decision on Mile Square View. "Which seems to be the fiscal monitor's chosen method of communicating with the government," Lenz said.

Zimmer and Cunningham said they would continue to work with Tripodi to reach a solution. 

"In light of the State's ongoing failure to release its public safety audit and the State Legislature's pension and health benefits reform measures," Zimmer and Cunningham said, "it is imprudent and unnecessary to fund temporary appropriations related to labor contracts that have not yet been settled."