Is Trenton Broke?

City lifeguards getting stiffed on paychecks for a month. A small vendor getting stiffed on final payment for a job he performed in good faith. Construction companies threatening to file suit in order to collect money they are owed, a quarter-million bucks worth.

All of this sounds like Trenton is broke. Unreasonable delays in payment for services rendered, and less-than-credible explanations for those delays – “misplaced paperwork” was the reason given for not paying the poor lifeguards. Uh huh. Right. “Misplaced.” For four weeks. Sounds like typical behavior of people short on cash and constantly scrambling to keep the wolves at bay, paying items only when they become impossible to avoid.

It’s not surprising that Trenton is short on cash. Its budget is paper thin, and it is critically dependent on the timely receipt of grant revenues, state aid,  and other external payments, the receipt of which can often be unpredictable and random, subject to frequent delays. All of this is understandable, in a city with normally precarious finances. I feel horrible for the lifeguards, for Mr. Zienowicz, for Jonico Inc and Diamond Construction. I’m glad the lifedguards finally got paid, and I wish the same for the other guys, plus all the rest who haven’t made the newspapers but who are still way overdue for their money from the City of Trenton.

Trenton is obviously in a cash crisis. All of the above, and today’s headline, is absolutely no surprise to anyone. So why mention the obvious?

Because revisiting this situation in which we find our city makes it even more infuriating for me to understand why this Administration can find it possible  to pour bucketloads of precious, rare taxpayer cash on follies such as Heritage Week ($75,000), that godforsaken Park sign ($10,000 already paid plus $7,000 that Mr. Zienowicz is duly and properly owed), and the “Learning Center” zombie libraries (who knows?!?!?!?), among the many unbudgeted, unauthorized outrages that the City has perpetrated over the last two years.

I sympathize with those workers in the finance and accounting areas of City Hall who, faced with pleading and threatening letters, calls and emails from vendors and employees looking for their properly earned money, have to put those people off – again – when someone drops another bill for the Zombie Libraries and tells them, “Pay this one today, right away!”

So my opening question, “Is Trenton Broke?” is more than a little disingenuous. Of course Trenton is Broke! We have no money, and what little cash we have should be carefully managed.

Perhaps my question should be, “If Trenton is so broke it can’t pay its lifeguards, how come it can pay for a freaking big “Mayor Tony F. Mack®” sign instead?” And why does it stiff even the guy who made it from his money?