NEPTUNE CITY - While the federal government is shut down, this borough of roughly 5,000 is still open — despite a memo to employees saying they won't get paid.

And the borough's Democratic Party, in power for the first time in decades, said Republican Mayor Robert Brown and his wife, the borough clerk, are "creating havoc" and "misleading" employees and residents that the borough is in a shutdown.

"There is no reason for anyone to not get paid," said Neptune City Council President Pamela Renee, refuting a memo Borough Clerk Tamara Brown sent employees on New Year's Day.

Check out the video at the top of the page for the latest on the federal government shutdown.

It's not clear why Neptune City employees were told they would not get paid. Neither of the Browns returned calls for comment. And the council unanimously approved a temporary budget that allows the borough to pay for operations — including employee payroll — until a final budget is complete, a standard practice for most New Jersey towns

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The issue arose during the borough's reorganizational meeting on Jan. 1 regarding a resolution that prepaid certain bills. Renee said a similar resolution was approved in 2018 after the borough's cable bill went unpaid the prior summer when borough council was meeting only once a month.

But the 2019 version of the resolution wasn't necessary anymore because the new council intends to meet every two weeks, even in the summer, Renee said. It also had a number of grammatical and textual errors and would have prepaid postage for newsletters and other mailings, which Democratic council members said wasn't an emergency.

Renee said they postponed the measure for additional discussion. Later that day, Tamara Brown sent the memo to employees telling them the town could not process payroll without the resolution.

Renee said council members spoke to various professionals, including the borough's own chief financial officer and staff at the state Department of Community Affairs, which said the questionable resolution was not needed for the borough to operate.

The borough council decided to cancel a special meeting originally scheduled for tonight that where they would have discussed the resolution.

Susanne Cervenka: @scervenka; 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com