O’Scanlon: New Jersey Committed to Rebuilding from Sandy and Redeveloping Fort Monmouth
Assembly Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon, commended the New Jersey Economic Development Authority for its commitment to Monmouth County’s efforts to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy and redevelop Fort Monmouth.
“We were knocked down by Sandy and the State has been there from the beginning offering a helping hand to get businesses and families back on their feet,” O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, said. “From providing temporary housing units for families to providing grants and loans to businesses that suffered damage, the authority has been absolutely committed to our region and intends to place staff in our communities – potentially at Fort Monmouth – to ensure easy access to grants and assistance for business owners.”
Budget testimony from EDA President Michele Brown revealed that the authority is:
- Administering $500 million of federal disaster recover aid to storm-impacted businesses.
- Planning a marketing campaign to let people know New Jersey is open for business.
- Provided 115 temporary housing units at Fort Monmouth for Sandy victims.
- Successfully attracted two companies to former military installation – CommVault Systems with 1,500 jobs and AcuteCare with 50 jobs.
“Since the closure of Fort Monmouth, we have taken great care to make sure the military installation is redeveloped in a way that will help drive our local and state economy for years to come,” O’Scanlon said. “I have complete faith that this administration will make sure this transformation is done right.”
More from my site
Christie Administration Forced Secret Ebola Quarantine Facility On Fort Monmouth
Highlands Restaurant Gets $50K Stronger NJ Grant
Hurricane Sandy Survivors Will Have Temporary Housing At Fort Monmouth
Beck, O’Scanlon & Casagrande Praise Contributions of Ft. Monmouth
O’SCANLON: WE CONTINUE TO WORK WITH SANDY VICTIMS AS MORE FAMILIES’ HOUSING NEEDS ARE - Monmouth Legislators: No more Ebola Patients at Fort Monmouth
Christie Town Hall Rescheduled For Thursday- As Sandy housing aid deadline nears, lawmakers request extension
Middletown Calls On Christie, Legislature To Allow Affordable Housing Funds To Assist Sandy Impacted Homeowners
FORT MONMOUTH TO HOST NEW VETERANS PROGRAM
Regarding Commvault, the company which is Oceanports 2nd largest employer is basically moving two miles down the road onto former FM property in Tinton Falls. While everyone is hopeful that additional jobs are created as the company expands in coming years, the buisness is basically moving from one host town to another.
Art-
These were my comments from February regarding the CommVault move. Nothing is different now.
You have probably noticed that the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth has been back in the news with CommVault’s move out of Oceanport and into Tinton Falls. There have been a lot of glowing press releases issued by the Fort Monmouth Economic Redevelopment Authority (FMERA) and local and state officials. Each one of these press releases trumpeted the positive short and long term impact that this move will have on the Fort’s redevelopment and to the community at large. Indeed, the press releases spoke of the virtues of this move and the many thousands of jobs that would be created by CommVault as the result of its relocation from Oceanport to Tinton Falls.
Depending on whose press release you want to believe, CommVault will be creating between 1,500 to 3,000 jobs over the course of its expansion in Tinton Falls. Unfortunately, these numbers aren’t guaranteed. They are only projections, and self-serving ones at that. It would be nice if the taxpayers were provided actual facts when the government is spending taxpayer dollars. The lack of facts in these press releases seems to reflect that the government doesn’t think that the taxpayers are able to understand the facts or, quite possibly, that the facts aren’t consistent with the story that is being told.
I would like to take a few minutes to apply some FACTS to this transaction:
FACT #1: CommVault is currently located in Oceanport, only two miles away from the proposed new site in Tinton Falls. As such, FMERA didn’t attract business from outside the area to come to Monmouth County. Instead, it poached a local business from one Fort Monmouth community (Oceanport) and put it in another Fort Monmouth community (Tinton Falls.)
FACT #2: This is EXACTLY what Oceanport’s governing body feared when we fought against the New Jersey Economic Development Authority having control over the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth – control that was wrested away from us by virtue of unprecedented legislation.
FACT #3: CommVault is receiving $7.2 million under the Business Employment Incentive Program to create 225 jobs, according to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. That is $32,000 per job to be created. In the event that CommVault does not create 225 jobs, however, it must pay a penalty of $3,000 per job. So, by my calculations, even if CommVault fails to create ANY jobs, it will pay a penalty of only $675,000 out of the original $7.2 million provided to it. (Nice odds if you can get them.)
FACT #4: CommVault received a $1.35 million Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Grant to keep 300 employees here in New Jersey, according to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s own numbers. When combined with the $7.2 million grant, that means the taxpayers of New Jersey have subsidized this move to the tune of $8.55 million.
FACT #5: The required 255 created jobs and the retention of 300 jobs totals 525 jobs. That is a far cry from the 3,000 job creation numbers that are being thrown around.
FACT #6: Oceanport has lost its second-largest employer and neither the New Jersey Economic Redevelopment Authority nor FMERA has proposed anything at the Fort to offset that loss.
FACT #7: This does NOTHING to help the area as jobs are simply moving two miles down the road. Again, this isn’t job creation as the press releases would have us believe. At best, it is job retention; job retention at a substantial cost to us, the taxpayers.
FACT #8: It will be up to us, the taxpayers and local politicians, a few years from now, to figure out whether or not the taxpayer’s money has been spent wisely because nobody else will do it for us, ESPECIALLY if the numbers don’t turn out to be consistent with their pie-in-the-sky projections.
FACT #9: It will be up to us, the taxpayers and local politicians, a few years from now, to hold FMERA and state officials accountable for this use of taxpayer dollars should the anticipated 3,000 jobs not materialize.
All good points, Joe.
Except there is one point you left out. It is well known that CommVault was looking for a new home and would have left their Oceanport headquarters in due time.
Middletown was working to get them. No doubt other communities…out of county or out of state…could well have been contenders.
NJ, County and FMERA officials kept CommVault and its jobs in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Art-
My point is no matter HOW or WHY CommVault moved from Oceanport to Tinton Falls, FMERA and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority DID NOT attract business from outside the area to come to Monmouth County.
I also wonder who will keep track of jobs being created, and whether there are parameters around the types of jobs and how long they need to remain in the state.
While it sounds nice that other employers and investors from around the United States will follow the lead of a market leader like CommVault, there is a dearth of actual data to support this claim.
A good point indeed, Joe.
An argument could be made that FMERA and NJEDA retained jobs in the area, rather than attracted them.
Given the history of job losses in Monmouth..Fort Monmouth, Lucent, etc., the retention is cause for celebration.
You seem to feel, understandably, that FMERA and NJEDA poached jobs and a large ratable from Oceanport. I don’t believe that is the case because, as said above, CommVault was planning to move, regardless of what FMERA and NJEDA did to keep them in the area.
Whether or not CommVault was going to leave Oceanport for greener pastures is something that Mr. Irace might want to look past, but what everybody seems to be willing to look past is how much it is going to cost the taxpayers of the State of New Jersey to keep these jobs local. Nobody has done the math on that. Suppose CommVault only creates 50 jobs. Is that enough to justify the expense to the taxpayers? I’m sick and tired of politicians doing things without actually knowing the numbers. Is it really a cause for celebration if we keep these jobs at a cost of $100,000.00 each? And, quite frankly, I have to agree with Mr. Irace about the politicians chirping about how many jobs they’ve created. They haven’t created any jobs yet. Let’s see what happens in five years. Bet we won’t be able to find Declan O’Scanlon if the numbers aren’t what he said they were going to be.
in the vein of rebuilding, and putting people back to work, is what seems to be government stepping in under imminent domain, to seize some low-lying properties to build some new dunes at the shore. They can say they’ll pay, but it traditionally winds up being unfair, below market rates, and given in a kind of take-it-or-leave it circumstance.. government cannot and should not be all things to all people, and if we don’t put some of it in check soon, we’ll wake up one day in a gov’t. -run commune or plantation we surely didn’t want!
Eminent domain is part of the 5th amendment to the US Consitution. Health and safety of the residents is as valid reason for taking these properties to construct dunes as it would be for taking other property to build a road. Only ideologues, and the extremely selfish would have a problem with building or reinforcing the dunes.