Edison aggressively tackling financial crisis about one year after adopting recovery plan

EDISON – About one year since the city of Edison adopted its plan to recover from a financial crisis, it’s rehired staff to its public works and police departments, paid off the majority of its debt and the city’s main street is lit up with Christmas lights once again.

“I’m proud that we’re where we are,” Edison’s Mayor Shirley Worthy said. “We’re coming along, but we’ve still got a ways to go.”

This time last year, Edison was upwards of $500,000 in debt, operating with single-staffed public works and police departments and sorting through disheveled documentation of mismanaged funds and budgets. An entirely changed city leadership discovered the city was operating at a deficit – not adjusting tax, water, sewage, garbage or sanitation rates to meet rising costs.

Last Christmas, the city couldn’t afford the Christmas parade and light display it had been known for. It’s downtown spent the holiday in the dark.

Edison has paid down most of its debt. Worthy said she paid the remainder of an outstanding bank loan from the previous city administration, most of which resigned in fall 2023. Last year, the city owed about $72,000 to the bank. On Tuesday, Worthy paid almost $34,000 on that note. The remainder of the debt owed by the city is about a combined $41,000 to two garbage companies.

Worthy said she believes the city will be able to pay it off in the next six months. She said the biggest change to the city’s spending in the last year was getting a grasp of the budget and not spending what it doesn’t have.

Getting back on track did involve raising the garbage and utility rates. Worthy said this was because the city was not charging customers enough to cover the expenses of these departments.

This caused stress for many residents of a city where poverty rates are high and many are seniors on a fixed income. The city promised at council meetings throughout the year to revisit rates to see if they could be lowered. Worthy said she is aware of that promise.

“I don’t know how much they can be lowered, but we still want to see how much we can cut back,” she said. “Right now, it’s not an option. We have expenses that we’ve got to take care of in order to maintain where we are.”

Lori Moore, who serves part-time as Edison’s financial manager, said at Monday night’s council meeting that she’s still in progress of getting the city’s audit for FY 2024. The deadline for this is the end of December.

Edison is in noncompliance with the state due to failure to submit a required audit of the city’s finances to the state for the last five years. That makes the city ineligible for state grants.

Moore was hired and began sorting the city’s financial books in October 2023. However, it’s been a long process to sort through records that weren’t properly kept.

“We spent a lot of time catching up … re-entering … that’s what kind of put us behind,” she said Monday. “As long as we can get all that done, we’ll be in better shape. And it will get done.”

City leaders also discussed some new business and announcements at Monday’s meeting.

The city plans to adopt a new computer system that goes live in February to better keep records.

City leaders also discussed ongoing problems with the lift station on State Highway 37 that takes care of Tower Drive and the Pataula Charter Academy. Worthy said wet wipes are clogging the lift station. It’s taking the public works department hours to clean and extra money to repair.

Worthy urged people in the area to avoid flushing anything other than toilet paper.

“It’s taking a lot of money and manpower,” she said.

Edison Police Chief Donnell Bryant also introduced a new police officer at Monday’s meeting. The city’s police department has been able to hire more officers in recent months after nearly a year of Bryant being the only person working for the department full-time. The department now has four police officers.

“I’m excited about her being on,” he said Monday. “It gives us some more help.”

Worthy also addressed the Christmas lights that lit up Hartford Street. She said the Public Works department once again had the manpower to be able to hang decorations and used what it already had in storage to decorate the street.

“It reminds the citizens of what we used to have and hopefully in the future, we’ll have again,” Worthy said. “I think it lets them know that we’re making progress, and we’re moving forward.”

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
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Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
[email protected]

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
[email protected]