PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) has released a breakdown of the direct federal assistance allocated to every local government in New Jersey’s 5th District from the new COVID-19 relief package.
Gottheimer noted in a press release last week that the law sends direct checks to 5th District families, lowers health care premiums to help families, provides relief to restaurants and small businesses, includes resources to help feed children, rebuilds infrastructure and our airports, helps schools reopen safely, and provides investment to expand vaccine distribution in New Jersey and nationwide.
The county and town governments that constitute the district will receive approximately $476 million. Bergen County governments: $259.73 million. Total to Bergen municipalities in the district: $53.28 million.
In our area, that shakes out as:
- Emerson: $746,172;
- Hillsdale: $1,012,479;
- Montvale: $841,850;
- Park Ridge: $854,031;
- River Vale: $980,750;
- Township of Washington: $901,379;
- Westwood: $1,088,216; and
- Woodcliff Lake: $573,578.
Gottheimer said, “Our local communities have been on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 for more than a year now. Throughout this entire crisis, I’ve been fighting to claw federal resources back to every county and community to help hard-hit North Jersey.”
He said the federal investment “will help cut taxes and lower health care costs for our families, expand local vaccination sites, keep our teachers, firefighters, EMS, and law enforcement on the job, support our small businesses and communities, improve our broadband and water infrastructure, and help get our local economies going.”
The package provides $350 billion to help states, counties, cities and tribal governments cover increased expenditures, replenish lost revenue, and mitigate economic harm from the COVID-19 pandemic. The New Jersey state government will receive approximately $6.434 billion in relief, as well as $190 million to expand broadband internet across the state and to support infrastructure improvements.
State and local government recipients may use the funds to cover costs incurred by Dec. 31, 2024. The funds will be distributed in two tranches: 50% delivered no later than 60 days from the date of enactment, and the remainder delivered no earlier than one year later.
They can tap the relief to respond to the COVID-19 emergency and address its economic effects, including through aid to households, small businesses, nonprofits, and industries such as tourism and hospitality; provide government services affected by a revenue reduction resulting from COVID-19; and invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. They can’t use the funds toward pensions or to offset revenue resulting from any tax cut enacted since March 3, 2021.
We reached out to our local mayors for comment and a sense of how local aid will be spent in the Pascack Valley. Hillsdale Mayor John Ruocco said, “The borough is always pleased to receive funds from the county, state or federal government. I only wish that the state had increased our typical allocation of state aid in past years, as it has been frozen at $1.2 million for many years. This has been a sore point in relations between the state and municipal governments and has repeatedly been brought to the attention of our elected leaders in Trenton by the New Jersey League of Municipalities, to no avail.”
He said in part, “I do worry personally as a federal taxpayer, however, how the federal government will cope with financing the sum total of $4 trillion passed by Congress these last 12 months as relief measures for the pandemic.”
He asked, “Will they raise taxes to pay for it, and on who? Will they focus excessively on ‘wealth redistribution’ rather than on the main priority of raising sources of revenue to pay for their spending? Will they dramatically change the economic, tax, and investment policies that have served the nation well in varying degrees the last 230 years? Will they cut back elsewhere on spending, and where?”
Park Ridge Mayor Keith Misciagna said, “We are certainly pleased that we are receiving much-needed funds from the bill. We are now anxiously awaiting more details and official confirmation on both the amount and the ways in which we will be allowed to spend the money.”
He added, “We appreciate Congressman Josh Gottheimer’s ongoing efforts in advocating for the local governments of New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District. Like many other municipalities this past year, Park Ridge incurred many extra costs and lost revenue, as have our local businesses and residents. We anticipate using the money to reduce our debt and fund infrastructure improvements.”