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RTNJPowerPolitics06272026BBlock230pm

Welcome back. The state is taking a deeper dive into data centers, a program designed to help companies move here now on hold. News Twelve's Chris Keating reports. The next New Jersey program provides millions of dollars in tax breaks to these AI data center companies that are now popping up all around the state of New Jersey. But now the Economic Development Authority here in New Jersey has just pressed pause on this entire program. In fact, if you go to the website, it'll say in bold red letters the following The authority is temporarily pausing the acceptance of new applications while it conducts a review. Sprawling data centers are. Growing up all around New Jersey, Core Weave in Kenilworth scored big with the help of the next New Jersey program. It's getting over $200 million in tax breaks. In return, the company is promising 140 jobs, but the subsidies are being questioned. Each of those jobs would cost $2.2 million to create. What we're saying here right now is saying that if we put that money into local businesses and other. Economic development improvements that we could create far more jobs. Another company in Warren called Starman is promising 250 jobs for a $37 million tax credit. The head of the has said of that deal, New Jersey's manufacturing industry is critical to our economy, helping drive investment and create good paying jobs. However, in recent months there has been immense backlash against data centers because Of the amount of electricity needed to power servers and water used to cool their machines, which can hike up local rates. It should be noted that CoreWave has said its cooling and power system would not affect water or electric rates. Still, what we've seen across the state is now 20 municipalities have outright banned data centers in New Brunswick. The city council there canceled plans for a data center even though construction was starting. Park also recently joined others in banning data centers, but now it's up to state officials and certainly Governor Sherrill to decide whether the next New Jersey program will again get the green light or be shut down altogether. Chris Keating, News 12, New Jersey. And joining me now to discuss the public pushback over data centers is Michelle Skerka, president and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Michelle, it's great to see you as always. Always a pleasure to join you. Thank you. Listen, uh, you recently wrote an op ed about the need for greater education regarding AI data centers. Uh, what do you want the public to know, especially on the heels of the report that you just heard? Yeah, and first of all, let, let's note that that op ed was written in partnership with our union brethren IBEW Local 102 Bernie Corrigan. So this is a great example of employers and labor together recognizing the importance of data centers to the state of New Jersey. Now that doesn't mean just bring them in unbridled. Right? Uh, you know, you always need guardrails, uh, on new industry. Uh, but we need to find a way to harness this opportunity here in the state of New Jersey given where we are with AI and innovation and heck, we want to be the innovation state, right? So let's talk about Core weave. Someone just mentioned Core weave. Core Reeve is funding their own substation. Right. That's why they say they're not going to have the impact on the grid that people are saying they do. Coe says that their water usage isn't going to be what people suggest it is. The reality is the new technology and how we use water in data centers is closed loop systems and Microsoft, great example, just issued a report just a couple of days ago saying That their water usage has gone down 90% over the last two decades because of this new technology. We see the same with Amazon and Google. So new technology is, is making these centers uh much more efficient, effective, um, and we should not be shying away because of old data and misinformation that people have. So should it also be mandatory though that when a data center wants to open up that they provide their own electricity, they have their own generating. And most are doing that now. And when they, when they bring their own and fund their own, they're not having an impact on the ratepayer. They're paying for themselves. They understand that if they're going to come into New Jersey with a strategy, the best way to do it is to do it that way. Look, they understand the limitations on our grid, and frankly, if they're going to wait for, you know, access, uh, they might be waiting a long time given the challenges that we have. All right, let's talk about the state budget because the process is in the home stretch, I guess right now. What is it, what does it portend for the business community at a time when New Jersey was just ranked last in the region in terms of business climate. Yeah, well, hold the line on spending, you know, for sure. I mean, you know, the budget as it sits today is, you know, 70 to 80%, almost 80% higher than it was at the beginning of the Murphy administration. Uh, we, this is not sustainable funding and we've seen that. So number one, hold the line on spending. Number two, we have to stop with these, with these new taxes. You know, you want to say. Send a message to business to our job creators that they need to stay and grow here. Every time we change the rules, tax policy is incredibly complicated. There's two provisions of tax policy that basically those two changes when they took place, the net operating loss and the um the, the, the um business calculation. The alternative business calculation, those were non-partisan changes in order to ensure New Jersey could be regionally competitive. And now we're doing again, you know, 180s on those. And then there's the Medicaid assessment which is incredibly concerning and challenging that we want to penalize New Jersey companies if they have folks on Medicaid when the reality is many of them don't even know that they have employees on Medicaid. And there's reasons why employees are on Medicaid. We don't want to disincentivize them from coming into the workforce. Yes, it's important to note we just actually found out we lost two major companies, Samsung and ExxonMobil, both heading to Texas. I want to shift gears though. This is a lot of focus right now on the Climate Super Fund and Polluters Pay Act. What is this? What's at stake here and why are you against it? Terrible policy, absolutely horrible policy at a time when we're talking about affordability. This is a 50 $billion billion assessment on New Jersey fossil fuel companies. OK. We're talking about this translating to a $14,000 tax over 20 years on New Jersey residents because there's no way this does not stream downstream from what they will have to pay. You're going back and you're putting into place a retroactive assessment. On an industry that followed every rule, every permit in order to generate the, the energy that was needed in this state and the petroleum that we needed that goes into almost every product we touch today. This is horrible policy. Come to New Jersey, let us continue to change the rules on you and by the way, we'll go back and we'll retroactively assess you to the tune of $50 billion over 20 years. Terrible. I just want to know we only have 2, we only have 2 refineries left in New Jersey today. We had 620 years ago. Just think about that. Michelle Sikerka, president and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Michelle, thanks for joining us as always. Appreciate your time. Thanks for the opportunity. And keep it right here. We've got much more coming up on New Jersey Power and Politics for you right after the break, including a major hole that Jersey City needs to plug. Will there be a big tax hike in the city? That's next.

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Welcome back to Power and Politics. Property taxes could be on the rise in Jersey City in a big way, and city leaders want to hear from residents before making a final decision. News Twelve's Adriana Daniel tells us about the proposal and the pushback. Well, we kind of had an idea it was coming when he posted right after the elections about the uh large budget deficit, so we figured that this was, this was coming. We're seeing prices going up at the pump, at the grocery store, and now on property taxes. Jersey City residents could potentially see their property taxes going up. 20% to alleviate the city's $255 million budget deficit, according to Mayor James Solomon, a tax hike would help resolve $200 million of that. I am thankful of the transparency that is coming. I think I'm extremely disappointed. In the tax, uh, in the tax policy he's trying to put into place because that's not what we voted for. We voted for somebody who is for the people and this seems like it's very much against the people. On Wednesday, Mayor Solomon's office announced they would be pulling the proposed legislation from the city council's agenda and move for a special meeting to consider the tax increase on July 1st. The council is also working to find other ways to save money, like canceling an approximately $1 million proposed park maintenance contract. On Sunday, Solomon will be hosting a public forum for community members to share their thoughts on the 2026 budget. I want to stress how this announcement was the last possible resort after our audit revealed the scope of our financial crisis, the worst a New Jersey City has faced since the casino industry collapsed in Atlantic City. My team went line by line in the budget. The impact of an increase is going to lead to many Jersey City residents tightening their belts. 20% is going to be on top of whatever we also have to pay for the Board of Education and other things. The taxes are already a lot, so I don't know, it just means tightening up more budget. Could the 20% increase mean you don't buy your condo? Correct, yeah. And would it mean you move out of Jersey City? Yeah. Reporting in Jersey City, I'm Adrianna Daniel, News 12, New Jersey. Starting July 1st, you'll see more police walking around Patterson. The goal to make shoppers, diners, and employees feel safer. There will be 16 officers on foot working Thursday through Sunday from 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Their focus will be crimes like vandalism, loitering, and theft, although in uniform these will be off-duty cops. We need off-duty police officers because we need as many on duty as we can and we don't want to pull anyone. Those extra officers will be paid for with the help of a $1.8 million dollar grant from the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Program. And that'll do it for this week. I'm Eric Landskronner. We thank you so much for watching New Jersey Power and Politics. We'll see you again next time.

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Democratic state Sen. Vin Gopal and President and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association Michele Siekerka join the show this week.

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