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ASBURY PARK PRESS

MONDAY 05.18.15

A no-show?

A Triple Crown win could keep racings hottest

horse out of Monmouth Parks Haskell. SPORTS, D1
USA TODAY

FBI CHECKING CLAIMS THAT JETLINERS WERE HACKED IN FLIGHT PAGE 1B

Shining a
light on
billions in
tax breaks

tsunami
of pollen

N.J. business incentives:

Do they help or hurt?
MICHAEL SYMONS
@MICHAELSYMONS_
TRENTON New Jerseys economic development
tool of choice, the corporate tax break: Is it a jobs-creating phenom or a dressed up giveaway, a form of corporate welfare?
Thats the $5.4 billion question being asked in Trenton, amid demands for greater transparency and perhaps even a moratorium on such gratis. New Jersey
has awarded that much in tax subsidies to businesses
since 2010, with the amount growing each year.
The concern among progressive activist groups, in
a state that lags the nation in jobs creation and recovery after the Great Recession, is whether the subsidies have generated the promised number of jobs and
the commensurate tax revenues.
The answer so far amounts to a confidence-jarring
nobody knows, despite a 2007 state law requiring an
annual accounting. That has led to debate on legislation to put the brakes on such job-creation incentives,
at least until the administration of Gov. Chris Christie
produces the required economic reports.
Its a bill to force transparency really on Gov.
Christie, because quite frankly five years of ignoring
the law and not making sure that the public and people

Season
looks to
be worst
in years
for
allergies
TODD B. BATES
@TODDBBATESAPP

Bill Sciarappa went outside Friday

morning and got hammered by pollen.
I generally dont get hit that much, and
yet Im taking a one-a-day pill for allergies, said Sciarappa, Monmouth County
agricultural agent with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
You get itchy, watery eyes, nasal congestion, he said. Even today (Friday), I
walked outside and started coughing just
from this burst of pollen in the air.
Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey
residents suffer from hay fever, and this
season is shaping up to be one of the worst
in years. The late spring has compressed
the season, and theres been little rain to
wash the pollen out of the air, according to
experts.
Sciarappa said the tree pollen is very
large and very obvious, and that does affect people, sure. The wild bluegrass and
other turf grasses are blooming as well, so

Some of that attack (on the states tax

Its off the

charts. ... Its
just the way
the bloom
period
worked out
(with
several
different
species
blooming at
once).

incentives to businesses), if not most

of that attack, has been unfair.
SEN. RAYMOND LESNIAK, D-UNION

in this state have information about how $5.4 billion is

being spent is not OK, said Dena Mottola Jaborska,
deputy director for New Jersey Citizen Action.
Q: Whats the criticism?
Although New Jersey has awarded $5.4 billion in
tax subsidies to corporations since 2010, that doesnt
mean the state has spent $5.4 billion that could have
been applied to something else. The program provides tax credits and incentives; it does not actually
send money out the door. But it does mean that over
the course of time, if the businesses achieve the job
and investment goals in their awards, the state will
miss out on future revenues as companies cash in
their credits money the state could surely use.
A 2007 state law requires annual reports from the
state Treasury Department about the past, current
and future benefits and costs of the subsidies. It has
never been produced. A Senate committee nearly voted this past week on a plan to put a moratorium on any
additional incentives from being awarded until the administration produces the report. A modified bill
could re-emerge next month.
Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, said the bill isnt
about Christie.
These incentives that I have been the sponsor of
starting under Gov. (Jon) Corzine have come under at-

BILL SCIARAPPA
RUTGERS COOPERATIVE
EXTENSION

See POLLEN, Page 6A

In Middletown, petition signers arent

clowning around about saving Calico
JERRY CARINO
CARINOS CORNER
MIDDLETOWN A shore icon that
should be preserved for future generations.
Its part of Middletowns identity.
Save the Clown! Its a historic landmark!
These are a few of the 450 comments
on a petition to preserve Calico, the
two-story, grinning, somewhat creepy roadside sentinel on Route 35. In a few weeks it has garnered more
than 1,000 signatures from locals and others who wor-

ADVICE
BUSINESS
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
LOCAL

4C
8A
6C
5C
3A

LOTTERIES
OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
WEATHER

See BREAKS, Page 6A

ry that development will send the clown packing.

For 59 years, Calico has been watching over this
community. Now the community is looking out for
him.
For me, he has become the symbol of all the
change thats going on in this town, all the culture and

history everything we stand to lose, said Margie

Rafferty, a lifelong Middletown resident who started
the petition and a Save Calico Facebook page. I am
amazed at the reaction Ive gotten. There is just so
much passion and love for this 22-foot clown. Its
been amazing.

See CARINO, Page 7A

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VOLUME 136
NUMBER 118

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