Democratic Assemblyman Gordon M. Johnson, Republican Assembly Anthony M. Bucco, and commercial lawyer Ted Zangari all sung the praises of the state's new economic incentives designed to lure companies to New Jersey, during a New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Roundtable on Growing Jobs and the Economy in Monroe on April 29.
But Bucco got real for a moment. "We can't rely on tax incentives alone, that will only get you so far," he said. The state needs to address the burden of the tax structure and the high cost of energy on businesses, he said. "We can no longer have executives telling us, 'We can't afford to live here and we can't afford to die here.'''
Zangari - head of the real estate department of the commercial law firm Sills Cummis & Gross and founder of the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition - said incentives to lure companies to New Jersey or encourage them to expand here "only matter when all other things are roughly equal." Zangari ticked off factors such as quality of life, quality of schools, property taxes, and transportation infrastructure that executives look at when considering an expansion or relocation in New Jersey. "We have to constantly be mindful of that," he said.
One of the state's most immediate challenges is finding money for transportation infrastructure; the state's Transportation Trust Fund is set to run out of money by the end of the year, Zangari said.
The legislators, though, offered no immediate answers on how New Jersey could generate new revenue for critical highway and mass transportation projects.
"I'm a Democrat and I'm also a realist," Johnson said. "You don't want to put another obstacle in the way (of economic development) by incorporating a tax or a fee. It's not the time to do that. We have to prioritize our needs and goals, and figure out how we are going to do this, and still convince (business leaders) to locate here."
Bucco added, "We can't continue to borrow and I don't' have the stomach to raise taxes. We will have to make real tough policy decisions."
In the meantime, Zangari said the state's new business incentives under the Economy Opportunity Act, which was passed with bipartisan support, are far superior to past incentive programs New Jersey offered because the incentives are no longer restricted to companies locating in a targeted city or distressed economic area.Companies can realize significant incentives no matter where in the state they grow jobs.
"We are no longer clubbing companies into submission to go to locations the state wants them to go," Zangari said. "It used to be the state's way or the highway, and companies were taking the highway. The state now recognizes that business is the customer, and the customer is always right."
A special thank you to Garden State Development Inc. for sponsoring the event.