Newark council members are sharing their two cents on the path mayor Cory Booker has laid out for his final full year in office.

Aside from reflecting on the accomplishments of the last seven years of his administration, Mayor Booker spent a good portion of his speech on the city’s budget. The Mayor claims this will be the first year in over a decade that the city will not need any state assistance. Councilman Ron Rice Jr. says the council had to make some tough decisions, but they were able to get it done.

“Council man’d up woman’d up if you will did what we had to do, grudgingly at times, but I’ve always said the Mayor deserves credit for ending the structural deficit in the city whether I agree with how he did or not there are some things I would’ve done differently but it is what is we have to move forward and build on this.”

Rice says they haven’t seen the Mayor’s budget proposal yet but says he is confident the city has the resources to be self sufficient.