BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON – As municipal employees filed out of City Hall at quitting time on Monday, one of their colleagues stood near the doorway and wished them a “Good Holiday.”
Only 453 Paterson employees hold positions the administration deems essential – mostly police officers, firefighters and sanitation collectors – and were told to come back to work on Tuesday. The rest are supposed to stay home as the budget showdown between the mayor and city council continued toward what now seems like an inevitable partial shutdown of municipal government.
The shutdown will affect school crossing guards, street-cleaning, after-school recreation programs and senior citizen services, officials said.
Paterson’s non-essential employees are in limbo and have been told to call the city’s hotline Tuesday night to find out if the council approves the mayor’s budget proposal, a move needed to allow them to resume work on Wednesday.
“I’m angry,” said Joanne Bottler, a tax search officer. “I have a sick mother I care for and losing a day’s pay is going to be a hardship.”