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.”
And the schools have a $45 million gap to close.
And yet look at all of those $100k public pension hogs from Paterson from page 31-32 here https://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/02/2014-100K-club-by-employer.pdf
Why are there any “non-essential” employees? How many businesses have non-essential employees walking the halls?
What about the extra HR and other assistants the manager hired right here in our town with benefits yet.
By the way, Rutgers Univ. Govt. studies department says that N.J. would save millions with shared services. We in Bergen County have what 200 or more tiny towns each with their own school superintendent, their own police and fire dept. their own libraries etc. This does NOT GO ON in other parts of United States of America.
You talk about combining here and you would make Scott Kelly go deaf up in space.
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Now that is what Chris Christie should have pushed for; should have got the ball rolling on.
Chris Christie has already checked out.
the hr gal is gone with the manager in the spring.and they know it.
Oliver Train – did you read the article? “The shutdown will affect school crossing guards, street-cleaning, after-school recreation programs and senior citizen services, officials said.” How many businesses have these? Are you saying that these aren’t legitimate things for a municipality to have? Municipalities aren’t businesses. By the way, businesses are perfectly efficient? Never any layoffs because they figure they can get along without someone or without their function? Never leave a position unfilled because they can save money? “Needed” is a very flexible concept.
that city is going to shit real fast.