Firefighters, police union members, and youth softball players packed Edison’s council chamber Wednesday as the township finally introduced its long-overdue 2026 municipal budget.
Rahway council candidates split over water utility privatization and amphitheater costs at a packed NAACP forum, the only one before the June 2 Democratic primary.
Financial records show Rahway paid at least $200,000 exploring a water utility sale, funded through ratepayer accounts with little public disclosure. The mayor says it’s not over.
Karla Timmons was unanimously selected to represent Rahway’s 3rd Ward after Vannie Parson resigned in April. Parson was the first Black woman elected to the Rahway Municipal Council.
Council President Joseph Coyle said he’s holding up the 2026 municipal budget while seeking unspecified cuts, as seniors made a spirited case for more indoor pickleball courts.
The council approved an eminent domain action on a Main Street property, signed off on nearly $1 million for a high school parking overhaul, expanded its surveillance camera program, noted a major new health center at Metro Park, and locked in a roughly $2.2 million energy deal with PSE&G — among other items.
About two dozen Rahway Department of Public Works employees attended Monday’s city council meeting to demand action on a contract that has gone unsigned for 14 months, with some workers earning as little as $18 an hour.
Rahway’s 2026 budget is overdue, the water utility sale collapsed, and construction costs for the mayor’s downtown projects remain undisclosed.
After a fire at Woodbridge Center Plaza displaced 50 residents in April, a unique township ordinance required their landlord to rehouse them at the same rent by end of day.
Edison’s 2026 municipal budget is two months overdue. Residents warned Wednesday that council members could face $100-per-day personal fines for missing the state deadline.