As the Newark City Council and the Booker Administration continue to do battle over the budget process, Governor Christie is weighing in.

The governor says Mayor Booker and the council must decide to work together – especially with $24 million in state aid on the line.

“And the state continues to put more strings on any further assistance that we give, strings that are about reforms to the underlying structural fiscal problems they have.”

Part of that is coming to a consensus over a controversial Municipal Utilities Authority to oversee the city’s water system that could generate significant revenue.

But the city’s money woes are not all their fault, Christie says.

“I think they’re dealing with a long history of fiscal mismanagement there that goes back even well before Mayor Booker was in office.”

East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador says the governor has every right to give his opinion and believes the city has come to a turning point.