Rutgers' Bloustein School to Review 'Grow NJ'

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–The New Jersey Economic Development Authority will contract with the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University to produce an analysis of the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth Program, Sen. Raymond Lesniak says.

“The intention of these programs is to create jobs and to generate economic growth that benefits working people and the entire state,” says Lesniak. “We want to make them work and this evaluation process will help.”

Lesniak has introduced legislation requiring NJEDA to release job and compliance information publicly on state tax incentives to create and keep jobs and invest in New Jersey.

“New Jersey is in stiff competition with other states to attract investment and grow employment, particularly in urban areas like Newark, Paterson, Camden and Atlantic City, among others,” says Lesniak, who created some of the first tax incentive programs in New Jersey. “Without these incentives, thousands of jobs would have gone to other states along with hundreds of millions of dollars invested in construction. This evaluation is necessary to determine the effectiveness of the incentives and to determine how they should be improved. This will help make the programs more effective and efficient and ensure that New Jersey gets the most job creation and revenue growth possible.”

The NJEDA expects to finalize its agreement with the Bloustein School by May 29.

The NJEDA administers both incentive programs.  The GROW NJ Program provides tax credits to businesses that make capital investments in New Jersey.  Credit amounts are based on the number of jobs created or retained by the business.  The Economic Redevelopment and Growth Program provides businesses that invest in New Jersey with a portion of newly-generated tax revenues in the form of grants. The ERG program also provides tax credits for new residential and mixed use development.

The Rutgers analysis will comprise both one-time and recurring annual tasks, including a one-time evaluation of award calculations to help create an analytical framework for studying awards on a recurring annual basis; a one-time economic impact model; establishment of award metrics; evaluation of large-scale awards for $40 million or more over the term of the award to determine if the resulting tax credit offers are effective in the goals of attracting and retaining businesses while meeting EDA's fiduciary responsibility to NJ taxpayers; and production of an annual report to evaluate the program's ongong award process and the extent to which awards are efficient in achieving the goals of the program.