TRENTON-It's called the "Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Act," and the aim is to get corporations to locate near New Jersey's major transit hubs. What the bill would do, if passed, is provide tax credits of up to $75 million to cover capital expenses ranging from construction and renovation to leasing costs for companies that create at least 200 jobs at a site within a half-mile of a transit station. The credits would be spread over a 10-year period.
The bill, S3043, formally introduced just three weeks ago, will get hearings this week before both the Senate Budget and Assembly Appropriations committees. A final vote could take place as soon as next Monday, which is the final day of the current lame-duck legislative session.
The legislation has as its primary sponsors State Sens. Dick Codey (D-Essex) and Ronald Rice (D-Essex), with Robert Smith (D-Middlesex) as a co-sponsor. But the impetus has come from the top, specifically the administration of Gov. Jon Corzine. According to a source, Gary Rose, who heads the Governor's Office of Economic Growth, is the force behind it.
"The program is limited to municipalities…eligible for urban aid, that have at least 30% of their real property value exempt from property taxes, whose 'property base wealth' measured as equalized valuation per capita is under $100,000 per capita, and that have a specified commuter rail station," reads a statement accompanying the bill. That leaves as eligible sites in Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, East Orange, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, and here.
According to the source, who declined to be identified, the urgency is related to a couple of companies, also unidentified, that are said to be looking at sites in New Brunswick and Newark for major locations. One target that has been identified, however, is the Toronto-based TD Bank, which is paying $8.5 billion to acquire the Cherry Hill-based Commerce Bank and is said to be looking into the possibility of a US headquarters somewhere in the Garden State.
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