February 13, 2006
Jersey mayor grouses at NFL tax break
Another hidden subsidy - and another potential stumbling block - has arisen for the $1 billion stadium that the New York Jets and Giants are proposing to build in East Rutherford, N.J. Not only would the teams be getting access to 65 acres of free land as part of the deal, it turns out, they'd be exempt from paying property taxes for the 520,000 square feet of development they've planned. And that has East Rutherford Mayor James Cassella hopping mad:
"Why all of the sudden do the Jets and Giants not have to pay property taxes?" he said. "How can they legitimately say all this retail can be built without somebody having to pay property taxes, just like everyone else in East Rutherford, and for that matter, everywhere else in the state of New Jersey?"
And Cassella might be able to do more than hop: According to the AP, "a previous court settlement signed in 1997 with the sports authority gave the borough power to impose real estate assessments 'directly to any private enterprise or developer of any new private facility on the sports complex site.'" It would then be left to the two teams and the state sports authority to fight amongst themselves over who would pay the property taxes - which Cassella estimates at between $10 million and $15 million a year - to East Rutherford. If either the state or East Rutherford ends up holding the bag, chalk up perhaps another $200 million worth of this "privately funded" project that will end up hitting taxpayers' wallets.
