Agency official says Edison council inaction led to furloughs; special meeting set

An agency official said the Edison council failed to act on a proposed municipal budget after months of preparation, forcing the administration to adopt temporary appropriations and furlough municipal employees and interrupt services, and announced a special meeting for Thursday at 7 p.m. to seek restoration of services.

The official opened by summarizing the work that went into the budget: "3 months, 21 meetings, 2 binders with hundreds of pages," and said the administration introduced the budget May 20 after receiving council feedback and that the council approved introduction that same day. "Since then, the ball has been in their court," the official said, adding that council members have made no formal amendments.

The official said the administration introduced two temporary budgets to keep Edison operating after the council took no action, and that an agenda item to adopt the budget and a temporary appropriation had been scheduled earlier in the week but was not decided. "This left us with no choice but to enter a partial municipal shutdown," the official said, describing furloughs and interruptions to childcare services, senior programs and the municipal court.

A council member cautioned that state deadlines limit how long a municipality can delay passing a budget and warned that further delay would increase costs and could lead to furloughs. The member said temporary emergency appropriations "take us till the end of the month." Another council member emphasized the council’s authority over amendments and line items: "It's our budget now. We can move it around any way we choose."

A staff member appealed for continued public support of the employees affected by the shutdown: "I respectfully ask for continued support of the people and resources that help keep Edison safe, strong, and thriving." The agency official urged council members to attend the special meeting, "Come to the meeting on Thursday, vote to restore services, and bring our employees back to work." The official said three council members did not attend the earlier meeting and a fourth left early, which prevented the votes from occurring.

No formal vote on the introduced temporary budgets or final budget adoption is recorded in the transcript; the administration's call for a special meeting is the next procedural step noted in the record.