State Will No Longer Provide Funds For Long Branch UEZ Programs

After more than 15 years of success in Long Branch, the Urban Enterprise Zone Program appears to be nearing its end.

Long Branch Director of Community and Economic Development Jacob Jones addressed the Long Branch Council during Tuesday night's meeting and announced that Gov. Chris Christie is "effectively terminating the program."

"Many of the state staff have been given layoff notices," Jones said. "As of Nov. 1, 2011, all the remaining monies will be sent to municipalities."

The state UEZ staff is going to be reduced from just over 20 employees to about nine, according to Jones, and those that remain will handle online re-certifications for businesses that wish to remain in the program.

According to the State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs website, "Businesses participating in the UEZ Program can charge half the standard sales tax rate on certain purchases.

"Under the program, sales tax revenues generated by UEZ businesses are dedicated for use within the zones for economic development projects," the website states.

The program has aimed to revitalize businesses in urban communities by allowing them to charge the lower sales tax and create new jobs.

Jones explained that the UEZ Program was established in Long Branch in 1994, but that as of 2010, there have been no new monies for projects. He said unless the state comes up with a similar program to the UEZ, these projects will become a thing of the past.

However, Jones said Long Branch's UEZ Program should be able to function through 2012 with the money that it has remaining. 

"We will continue to have meetings and take on small projects such as cleanups," Jones said. "We will continue with the (summer) concerts to bring people into the city to show Long Branch can see a renaissance."

"We still have a major downtown to redo, so until that's done, our work is not done," Jones continued. "We're not going away, and we're still going to be around."

He said that businesses will still be able to certify and enter the program to take advantage of the 3 1/2 percent sales tax, but that the money will now go to the state and not be given back to municipalities.

In the past, UEZ projects have included repaving lots, improving sidewalks and buying trash cans in the city, according to Long Branch Business Administrator Howard Woolley.

Woolley said an audit was performed on the program and that the outcome was for the program to "scrapped and replaced with another program.

"The governor stopped at scrapped," Woolley said.

Council President Mary Jane Celli said she was disappointed that the program was coming to an end and that it has "done a lot of good around town."

Celli asked Woolley to send a letter of protest to the state, and the council agreed. 

Christie of the March 9 Long Branch UEZ meeting which called for the use of $135,000 in UEZ funds to support concerts, special events and marketing initiatives. 

In his veto letter, Christie said that even though Long Branch's UEZ funds are correctly being used to attract and promote businesses within the UEZ, the project budget also contains $45,700 in what he calls "unnecessary spending in a time demanding fiscal restraint," according to a release from the governor's office.

During Tuesday's meeting, Jones explained that it the remaining $90,000 were eliminated, it would include concerts and advertising cuts.