Will Browns Mills Get Help?

4 zones slated for stimulus in Burlco

By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff

The Burlington County Board of Freeholders is expected to designate four economic recovery zones today for possible projects using up to $39 million in federal stimulus money.

Of that money, $23.4 million could be used by developers for private projects and $15.6 would be available for public projects.

Officials said designating the zones will not obligate the freeholders to build any public project or to use any of the money under the federal recovery act.

The board is expected to name the four recovery zones -- Mount Holly, Pemberton Township, Wrightstown and the Route 130 corridor, which includes a dozen municipalities from Palmyra to Florence.

"By designating the recovery zones, we're positioning the county to work with qualified businesses in 2010 to identify and create new economic development projects that will generate revenue and jobs for Burlington County residents," said Freeholder-Director Joseph B. Donnelly. He also noted recovery zone bonds carry "virtually no cost impact to county taxpayers."

The county would have to use a combination of taxable and nontaxable bonds to finance projects, county finance officials said.

County treasurer Amy Hannigan has said the federal government also would reimburse the county for 45 percent of interest costs on long-term bonds, for a maximum savings of up to $1.9 million. She said a different stimulus option would cover 35 percent of the interest cost for capital-improvement projects in towns outside a recovery zone, but Hannigan said the dollar savings would be far less.

Mark Remsa, director of the county department of economic development and regional planning, has told the board these recovery zones meet the federal criteria -- significant poverty, unemployment and a higher rate of home foreclosures. Communities also can be economically distressed due to a military base realignment like Wrightstown and Pemberton Township, he said. Of the 12 corridor towns, 10 have had higher unemployment rates than the county average since 2007.

The major county administration offices and the courts are in Mount Holly. County government hospital and highway complexes as well as the county college are in Pemberton Township. Wrightstown is adjacent to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.