Secaucus Sues NJ Sports & Expo Authority Over Tax Money

SECAUCUS, NJ — The town of Secaucus has filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (formerly the NJ Meadowlands Commission), as the town of Secaucus argues it is not fairly being paid transportation tax revenue.

Secaucus filed the lawsuit this week. The Secaucus-based law firm of Chasen, Lamparello, Mallon & Cappuzzo filed the suit, filed by the Secaucus town attorney Kenneth Porro.

"The NJSEA does not comment on pending litigation," said a spokesman for the Sports & Exposition Authority.

The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority is a powerful agency that oversees any and all new business and development in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The NJ Sports & Exposition Authority has the power to approve or deny any and all construction in the Meadowlands, including things such as building new roads or highways, building a new hotel or apartment complex and expanding NJ Transit train service in the area. They are also charged with preserving the Meadowlands and keeping a sizeable chunk of it as undeveloped swampland.

They were also instrumental in giving the OK to allow the American Dream mall to be built. The Sports & Expo Authority is chaired by Vincent Prieto, a Secaucus resident who used to be the former state Assembly Speaker.

The Sports & Exposition Authority collects, among many other taxes, transportation taxes from businesses located in the Meadowlands.

Private homeowners do not pay this tax. The transportation tax is a tax that businesses — such as hotels, the Edison ParkFast, apartment complexes such as the Harper and XChange — pay the tax. Basically, anyone with a parking lot pays the transportation tax, and the tax is usually determined by the amount of cars that park per site.

Secaucus says that since 2008, the Meadowlands Commission has withheld about 30 percent of that transportation tax revenue, which Secaucus says should be going to individual towns in the Meadowlands.

"It says right in the agreement 30 percent goes to the town, 70 percent goes to them," said Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli. "XChange pays millions in this tax. They are collecting millions and millions of dollars from the town of Secaucus that should be put back into the town's budget."

Gonnelli said in the past, transportation tax revenue has been used to pay for things such as the new bike lane on Meadowlands Parkway. He said Secaucus could build more bike lanes in town if it had the money.

"We wanted to put a traffic light on Wood Avenue but didn't have the money to pay for it," he said. "It would also help us out with the paving on Meadowlands Parkway and Secaucus Road and next on Enterprise Avenue. Those are thing we can use this money for."

This isn't the first time Gonnelli has squared off against Prieto, and both live right here in the small town of Secaucus: In 2020, Gonnelli criticized Prieto publicly for not giving Secaucus enough time to review the 2020 Meadowlands Master Plan. Gonnelli said the Master Plan did not go far enough to address flooding in Secaucus. Read about their fiery encounter in February 2020: Secaucus Mayor Fights Powerful Board Over Meadowlands Master Plan

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