New Jersey Laundry Eyes Grant Money

The state of New Jersey recently passed legislation that would restart incentive payments to roughly 270 companies owed hundreds of millions of dollars for creating jobs in the state under its Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP), according to media reports. One of those 270 companies owed funds under the now-defunct program is a commercial laundry that relocated its operations from New York, the report noted.

Prestige Corp. was awarded a grant of $885,000 in 2011 to create 176 jobs at a new $7.3 million commercial laundry in North Bergen, NJ. The incentive was awarded to help the company close its laundry in the Bronx and move the work to New Jersey, the report said.

Martin Latham, Prestige CFO, said that he hasn’t “gotten a dime on it yet.” When asked if the legislation would help him, he said, “What would help me would be to get my check, that’s what would help me.”

Latham’s view is shared by several other businesses who have yet to receive their funds, according to the report. The state stopped funding the BEIP more than two years ago after underfunding the program and skipping payments for years due to budget constraints. To read the full article, click here.