Local Finance Board Giving Special Aid to Newark Next Wednesday without Accountability
In response to a meeting of the Local Finance Board scheduled for next Wednesday to give an unknown amount of money to Newark, Senate Budget Committee member Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris) is calling on Governor Corzine to release a long overdue Special Municipal Aid Audit of that city following last year’s special aid award of $45 million.
“The State Budget requires an audit of Newark and Governor Corzine has yet to release it to the public that paid for it, ” said Pennacchio. “It’s embarrassing. Governor Corzine will be throwing more money at this problem without finding out how the last $45 million was spent.”
The Local Finance Board, a body which includes Governor Corzine’s first campaign manager (Susan Bass Levin) and a current senior campaign advisor (Jamie Fox), is poised to award tens of millions of dollars to Newark on October 14, 2009. The money is being doled out without DCA providing any public documentation explaining the amount of money that Newark is seeking or even how much is being recommended for award at Wednesday’s meeting.
Newark is being given this Special Municipal Aid despite past hiring irregularities that violated conditions on last year’s special aid and despite Newark irresponsibly skipping pension payments while other towns and cities are doing the right thing in the face of aid reductions.
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October 20, 2009
