NJ rethinks business incentives

NJ rethinks business incentives

	Published : Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:22 By : Agencies Print this Story

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey gave, and MSNBC took -- then ran away.

Now MSNBC's move out of New Jersey is causing Garden State officials to reconsider the incentives given to businesses to keep them in the state.

Ideas include forcing companies to refund money and tax breaks if they don't uphold deals to create jobs and stay in the state.

State Sen. Shirley Turner said the state's business incentive program needs to ensure companies fulfill agreements.

'If we keep giving without getting back, our investment strategy will become another bad joke about New Jersey,' said Turner, D-Mercer.

MSNBC in October announced it was closing its Secaucus facility after 10 years and moving studios to Manhattan's Rockefeller Center. New Jersey had given it about $7.8 million in grants to come and stay at least 15 years.

The company was one of the first to participate in New Jersey's Business Employment Incentive Program designed to help businesses either expand or relocate to New Jersey to create jobs.

Under the program, New Jersey paid MSNBC grants equal to 80 percent of the state income taxes paid by its Garden State employees. It also forgave state sales taxes on equipment purchased for the Secaucus site.

Under a settlement between MSNBC and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the state will reduce by $2.3 million future business grants to CNBC's facility in Englewood Cliffs.

Meanwhile, the New York City Industrial Development Agency this month approved $1.5 million in tax abatements for MSNBC for moving 421 Secaucus jobs to Rockefeller Center.

Calls to MSNBC weren't immediately returned, but its parent company, NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., has said the move, along with others, was expected to save $750 million by the end of 2008.

Robert C. Lieber, the New York City Economic Development Corporation president, said the relocation will complement NBC's news operations while bringing new investment and jobs to the city.

But Jon Shure, president of the liberal New Jersey Policy Perspective, which opposes business incentives, decried the deals.

'This is one more example of why government subsidies for business are questionable policy,' Shure said.

Turner's bill to force refunds from companies who don't fulfill job-creation and longevity promises was approved by the Senate last year and awaits Assembly action.

'Like good shepherds, we should nurture our corporate stock in the competitive market place,' Turner said. 'But like good parents, we should ensure there will be consequences for failing to keep commitments.'