Camden Council packed with protesters against planned taxes, cuts, police takeover

Residents and off-duty police officers packed Camden City Council chambers Tuesday, protesting the city's effort to manage its latest fiscal crisis through sharp tax increases and spending cuts that include a potential county takeover of policing in the city.

In her budget address Tuesday, Mayor Dana L. Redd proposed to cut spending in 2012 almost 9 percent, to $158 million.

"I understand there will always be doubters, those who do not want to accept the reality that Camden is able to stand on her own and move forward," she said. "I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but the sky is still above our heads."

It did not appear that she was quelling the anger among residents, packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the stifling Council chambers. As the room, with seats for about 100 people, filled up, private security guards turned people away.

"I've told the mayor she's playing with fire. The people are angry," said Angel Cordero, a community activist who led a small protest outside City Hall in the afternoon. "They might not come out for the schools, but when it's about money, they'll be out."

Camden police, after seeing their ranks reduced by a quarter this year, now face the prospect that their force will be disbanded.

While Camden would pay for the county-run force, fewer than half of the current officers could be hired back were the county to take over - at salaries and benefits expected to be far below what they currently receive.

Camden consistently ranks as one of the most dangerous cities in the country, and supporters of a county force maintain that such a maneuver - believed to be unprecedented in New Jersey - would allow them to put more police on the streets.

That proposal, which has seen support from a cast of high-ranking officials, including Gov. Christie, gained momentum Tuesday as Council voted to enter into an agreement with the county and state to study the creation of a county police force.

Council members approved the city's participation in the study, with only President Robert Moran abstaining. Moran is a vocal supporter of a county takeover of the police, but recused himself because he is a county employee.

Ahead of the vote, a stream of speakers, including police union officials and Republican political candidates, stirred the crowd with accusations of an antiunion plot by South Jersey Democratic dealmaker George E. Norcross 3d. Amid laughter and cheers, shouts of "sellout" echoed across the room.

John Williamson, president of the Camden chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he held out hope the force would be kept intact.

"If we could all come to an agreement, it might not go through," he said. "We've always been open to concessions."

At a news conference last month, Christie praised Camden's progress in reducing its spending, but reiterated that in the long term, the city would have to learn how to make do without state aid.

Its days as a manufacturing center long past, Camden has struggled for decades. Parts of the city are a wasteland of abandoned homes, and drug corners abound.

In trimming the city budget, Redd has been negotiating with Trenton to maintain the state funding that helps keep Camden's police cars running and trash collected.

So far, the city has handed its libraries over to the county, reduced garbage collection to once a week for most of the year, and laid off hundreds of workers.

At the same time, residents in neighborhoods like North Camden and Cramer Hill are seeing their first significant property-tax hikes in two decades, after the city completed a revaluation that more than doubled the value of the city's tax base to $1.8 billion.

Brenda Nesmith, 49, a mother of four who works part-time as a nurse, saw the annual tax bill on her North Camden home almost double to about $2,800 a year.

"I'm a single female trying to do the right thing, trying to raise my kids in Camden," she said last week. "Where are we going to get the money?"

Many other residents saw no change in their tax bills. Under the proposed budget, the tax levy would increase 4 percent to $23.5 million, according to a city spokesman.

For the time being, all eyes are on Trenton, where officials continue to hash out how $160 million in funding for distressed urban areas will be distributed. Camden received $69 million last year, more than any other city, but Christie has said there would be stricter oversight of the funds than in years past.

The budget Redd presented Tuesday anticipates $67.5 million in such funding, in addition to $46.5 million in so-called formula funding from the state.

As North Camden resident Alicia Rivera waited for Council members to take their seats Tuesday, she surveyed the room and shook her head.

"With everything that's going on, there should be a whole lot more people here," she said. "It's a shame."

or jaosborne@phillynews.com.