Camden officials grappling with loss of state aid

During Tuesday's Camden City Council special meeting to introduce a temporary municipal budget, officials had no answers on how the city planned to cope with receiving hardly any transitional aid from the state this year.

On Thursday, Gov. Christie signed a $30.6 billion budget that basically cut off all of Camden's state aid money. The state's transitional-aid program provided $69 million of Camden's $173 million municipal budget in the last fiscal year. Unless Christie has a change of heart, several qualifying municipalities will have to split $10 million in transitional aid.

"What's next?" asked Council President Frank Moran.

City Administrator Christine Jones-Tucker answered Moran with: "We are going to be working very hard to address that."

After Tuesday's session, some Council members discussed the crisis they will face in crafting a balanced budget with scant help from the state.

"Will Camden file for bankruptcy?" was among the questions Councilman Luis Lopez asked. He said he hoped to have some answers from the administration during next Tuesday's Council meeting.

City spokesman Robert Corrales said Mayor Dana Redd and her administration were awaiting word from the state on what the aid cut would mean for the city before commenting on possible consequences.

During the meeting, Council approved a temporary budget for fiscal 2012, which started July 1.