Reacting to the loss of Panasonic to Newark, the Hudson County Board of Freeholders is looking to revamp its office of Economic Development in order to keep the jobs that are already in Hudson County and to attract firms to the county that would provide more jobs to local residents.
“What bothers me is not just that Secaucus lost Panasonic, but also the fact that two other towns in Hudson County could have qualified for the same tax incentives, but no one in our Economic Development office even talked to Panasonic about it,” said Freeholder Chairman Bill O’Dea. Earlier this month, Panasonic inked a deal to move its U.S. headquarters to downtown Newark from Secaucus by the end of the year.
“My thought is that we should bring on additional staff to help with business attraction and retention,” he said.
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“It’s not that we would want to steal the company from Secaucus,” O’Dea told administrators during the April 26 freeholder caucus. “But if they were going to move anyway, someone in our office should have talked to them about staying in the county.”
While the new location is near a major transportation hub in Newark, some workers who are currently employed at the Secaucus location may not be able to get there, O’Dea said, while Jersey City or Hoboken might have been more accessible to them.
“By keeping it in the county, we would not only be keeping the ratable here, but also providing jobs for our residents,” O’Dea said.
Changing the EDC
Since the caucus, O’Dea has been working with county administrations staff and other freeholders to change the focus of the county’s Economic Development Corporation office.
“My thought is that we should bring on additional staff to help with business attraction and retention,” he said. “We might consider creating a position within the agency under Director Betty Spinelli as a deputy for business retention.”
Spinelli, O’Dea said, is one of the more knowledgeable people in the county for economic development, but it is up to the freeholders and the county executive to bring new focus for the department.
“We need someone to work on behalf of our cities, especially those communities like Secaucus that has no Urban Enterprise Zone or other staff that can alert them to state, federal or other incentives,” O’Dea said. “This idea is to keep businesses that here are already in Hudson County and attract new businesses if we can.”
Because Hoboken and Jersey City are both in the Urban Transit Hub program, Panasonic could have relocated to either one, receiving the same tax incentive that it had by moving to Newark, but no one, O’Dea said was aware enough to make the company an offer or to review what was available in either of those two cities.
Several programs are key
There are two programs that may be particularly helpful to the county: the Economic Redevelopment Growth Program and New Market Tax Credit Program.
The Economic Redevelopment Growth Program would focus on the creation of new jobs, and would allow up to 20 percent of project costs to be funded with future state tax revenue.
The county could use these future revenues to float bonds through the Hudson County Improvement Authority to allow a project’s construction, and then the loan would be paid back as the future state revenues come in, O’Dea said.
“This would give upfront funding to a company to start development,” O’Dea said. “The loan would be guaranteed by the development. I think we have some great opportunities here in Hudson County for this kind of thing.”
New Market Tax Credit Program would provide low-interest loans to investors provided they become citizens of the United States. While the primary investors currently are the Chinese, O’Dea said, this could apply to a number of investors.
Administration may support a new EDC
The county’s Economic Development Corporation office should also be focused on fighting for the endangered UEZ program, and seeking to find funding for more mid-sized businesses through that program, officials said. The UEZ is a state program that allows business districts in some local towns to charge a low state sales tax and then use the tax money for capital improvements to the district.
“I’m talking about businesses that currently are valued at half million to a million dollars a year,” he said.
Revamping the department, O’Dea said, may also have the support of the administration. “I talked to the county administrator,” he said, “and he suggested that the county executive seems to be supportive of this idea and has encouraged us to come up with a proposal.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.