City Council approved a resolution (AR-49-23) during its regular meeting on Feb. 14 for a proposed $400,000 SID budget in 2023. That’s an overall increase of 23 percent over the 2022 budget of $325,000. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled during the City Council’s next regular meeting on March 13.

Last year’s SID budget remained the same as in 2021, at $325,000.

The proposed SID budget includes an increase of $138,827 in programming and improvements, more than double the $110,000 in 2022, which would account for almost 60 percent of the budget, where previously it was more like a third:

• Programming/improvements – $238,287 (59.5%)
• Salaries and wages – $133,500 (33.375%)
• Administrative/Operating – $18,000 (4.5%)
• Fringe benefits – $10,213 (2.55%)

Among the most significant initiatives within programming and improvements will be the Business Improvement Grant Program, according to Elton Armady, economic development officer. The SID will provide forgivable loans of $2,000 to eligible businesses for fit-out/interior improvements, signage, or brand marketing and design services, and Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification (minority, women, veterans, LGBTQ) of $1,000 per business that has or gets certification.

For loans to be 100 percent forgivable, businesses must stay in operation for two years, and 50 percent for one year. The maximum granted to one business will be $7,000. Applications are expected to open on March 1.

The rest of the funds will be used for events, beautification, and other initiatives, according to Armady.

The total SID levy of $325,000 in 2022 was generated through a tax of $0.129 per $100 of assessed value on the $252,071,550 in assessed value of SID properties, according to the 2022 Union County Abstract of Ratables. When the SID was limited to 138 downtown properties, the assessment was $0.266 per $100 of assessed value on the properties, which had an overall assessment of $49,049,500.

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, City Council approved a $130,000 budget for the SID, which was in line with what it’s been historically, when the SID encompassed 138 downtown businesses since its creation in the early 1990s.

A years-long legal battle that started in 2014 and ultimately was resolved in 2019 led to the expansion of the SID citywide. The expanded SID, with more than 400 properties, was estimated to generate closer to $700,000 annually but the city has deferred that several times amid the pandemic. The city has used some of the SID funds in the past to award COVID relief grants.

After the Rahway Center Partnership folded more than 10 years ago, management of the SID shifted to the seven-member board of the Rahway Arts and Business Partnership in 2010. That lasted until 2021 when  management of the SID was moved under the purview of City Council, designating it as the downtown management corporation.

Editor’s note: The Rahway Special Improvement District is an advertiser on RahwayRising.com and sponsors the monthly reader poll.