A venomous clash between city council members and the mayor has left Trenton without a budget since the end of April. The ongoing political rift has pushed Mayor Reed Gusciora to pay Trenton’s bills by executive order, even as the city’s budget process remains under scrutiny by the state Department of Community Affairs.
Gusciora said the gridlock will require state intervention. “Would it be embarrassing to me? Yeah. Are people going to say I can’t get the job done? Yes. But at the end of the day, we need to have a clean water system; we need to have public safety apparatus; we need to make bond payments — we need to have a budget.”
Gusciora proposed a $226 million budget in April. Three council members who back the mayor support it, but his spending plan encountered immediate opposition from the other, three-member bloc.
