Site visitors on the George Washington Bridge toll plaza in Fort Lee, N.J., on the method to New York Metropolis. (Ted Shaffrey/Related Press)
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has unveiled $20 million in enterprise incentive grants to fight New York Metropolis’s new congestion-pricing tolling by opening an workplace in New Jersey or permitting residents to telework as a substitute of driving into Manhattan.
New York’s controversial congestion pricing, which took impact Jan. 5, prices toll charges for automobiles coming into a Manhattan congestion reduction zone (native streets and avenues at or under sixtieth Avenue).
“From the start, I vowed to struggle congestion pricing, as a result of New York mustn’t stability its funds on the backs of New Jersey households,” Murphy mentioned just lately. “This may not solely minimize down on prices and journey time for commuters, however would hold their tax {dollars} in New Jersey. Our struggle in opposition to congestion pricing isn’t over, and we gained’t permit one other state to line its coffers with our hard-earned cash.”
Awarding as much as $500,000 for eligible firms, the New Jersey Re-assigning In-State Workers Program (NJ RISE) is a pilot program launched Jan. 21 to pay $20 million in grants to companies that reassign N.J. residents working out-of-state to native N.J. places of work, and/or open N.J. places of work.
NJ RISE is being administered by the New Jersey Financial Growth Authority, which is promoting this system on billboards with excessive N.Y. commuter visibility. Indicators have been positioned on the thirty ninth Avenue entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, on the West Aspect Freeway at West a hundred and fifty fifth Avenue (as a closely traveled north/south route in Manhattan) and on the Cross Bronx Expressway.
“Extra billboards will observe in New York and northern New Jersey, complemented by taxi high banners, digital and social media adverts and transit posters,” the governor’s workplace famous.
Eligible firms will need to have no less than 25 full-time staff and be primarily situated in a unique state comparable to New York or Delaware with a comfort of the employer earnings tax rule. Grants additionally require companies to offer a present tax clearance certificates exhibiting N.J. enterprise registration and good standing with the N.J. Division of Taxation.
NJ-Reassigning-In-State-Workers-NJ-RISE Program
“Gov. Murphy has been dedicated to bringing extra companies to the Backyard State, and the NJ RISE program will assist incentivize firms to reassign their New Jersey staff again to their dwelling state and enhance their enterprise exercise within the state,” mentioned Tim Sullivan, NJEDA’s CEO. “Along with saving money and time for commuters, NJ RISE will bolster the state’s tax income, enhance financial exercise, and develop a stronger and fairer economic system for New Jersey’s commuters and households.”
The brand new program is one among a number of actions Murphy has spearheaded relating to the N.Y. congestion worth.
He wrote a two-page letter to President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 in search of a evaluate.
“The present congestion pricing scheme is a catastrophe for working and middle-class New Jersey commuters and residents who want or need to go to decrease Manhattan and now must pay an enormous price on high of the bridge and tunnel tolls they already pay,” Murphy’s letter said. “And, including insult to damage, New Jersey communities aren’t being totally compensated for the extra visitors and attendant air pollution that will likely be rerouted to them due to congestion pricing.”
On Jan. 25, Murphy despatched a letter to Kevin O’Toole, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, formally in search of month-to-month metrics on the impression of New York’s congestion pricing on the port authority.
“Whereas we proceed to struggle New York’s disastrous congestion pricing scheme by way of litigation, we will likely be carefully monitoring any adversarial impacts of this system on our state,” Murphy declared. “The statistical data we’re requesting will assist us advocate for our commuters and the broader area as we struggle this unfair coverage.”
He formally requested the Port Authority to undergo him on a month-to-month foundation in addition to previous figures (by month) for 2023 and 2024:
• Complete toll revenues for all tunnel and bridge crossings, separated by crossing.
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• Complete variety of automobile passages, separated by automobile toll class and crossing.
“Statistical data ought to be offered to my workplace for the month of January 2025 and on a month-to-month foundation, on the fifteenth of every month, going ahead so we could assess the continued impacts of congestion pricing,” the letter mentioned.
On Jan. 27, Murphy introduced New Jersey is updating its pending lawsuit over congestion pricing with new claims that Federal Freeway Administration actions final 12 months approving each the beginning of congestion pricing in addition to last-minute adjustments N.Y. officers made to the tolling plans have been accepted with out applicable environmental opinions.
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