52:27I-41 Creation of infrastructure district.

24. a. The authority may adopt a resolution creating an infrastructure district whenever the authority determines that the improvement of the infrastructure of the property within the infrastructure district will promote the health and general welfare of the residents of the project area, the host municipalities, and the infrastructure district. An infrastructure district created pursuant to this subsection may be comprised of any or all lands which comprise the project area. The authority may create, by separate resolution, more than one infrastructure district.

b. (1) If so determined by the authority, the receipts of retail sales, except retail sales of motor vehicles, of alcoholic beverages as defined in the "Alcoholic beverage tax law," R.S.54:41-1 et seq., of cigarettes as defined in the "Cigarette Tax Act," P.L.1948, c.65 (C.54:40A-1 et seq.), and of energy, made by a certified vendor from a place of business owned or leased and regularly operated by the vendor for the purpose of making retail sales, and which place of business is located within an infrastructure district created pursuant to subsection a. of this section, will be exempt to the extent of 50 percent of the tax imposed under the "Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.); and the authority for the purpose of increasing public revenue may adopt a resolution to levy and collect, within an infrastructure district created pursuant to subsection a. of this section, a franchise assessment not to exceed an amount equivalent to 50 percent of the tax imposed under the "Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.) and to devote the proceeds from those assessments to purposes as provided in this section.

Any vendor having a place of business located within an infrastructure district may apply to the Executive Director of the EDA for certification pursuant to this paragraph. The executive director shall certify a vendor if the executive director shall find that the vendor owns or leases and regularly operates a place of business located in an infrastructure district for the purposes of making retail sales, that items are regularly exhibited and offered for retail sale at that location, and that the place of business is not utilized primarily for the purpose of catalogue, Internet or mail order sales. The executive director may at any time revoke a certification granted pursuant to this paragraph. The executive director shall immediately notify the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury of any such certification or revocation.

(2) The rate of the franchise assessment shall be uniform throughout the infrastructure district. The franchise assessment shall apply only within the territorial limits of the infrastructure district and shall be in addition to any other assessments, taxes, and excises.

(3) The resolution adopted pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall continue in force and effect until repealed by the authority.

(4) No franchise assessment shall be imposed on gross receipts which a municipality or the State is prohibited from taxing under New Jersey law, or the Constitution and laws of the United States of America.

(5) Upon adoption, the authority shall immediately transmit a copy of the resolution to the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs and to the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury. Every resolution levying a franchise assessment pursuant to this section shall provide for reporting assessments due and for the collection thereof, and all franchise assessments pursuant to such a resolution shall be remitted to the chief financial officer of the EDA. A resolution levying a franchise assessment shall take effect only on the first day of any month in any year. The resolution shall provide for the allocation and distribution of the proceeds of the franchise assessments collected.

(6) The resolution shall set forth the person or persons subject to the franchise assessment payment and collection procedures, and any other matters deemed relevant by the authority with the authority having discretion as to the mechanism to be utilized. The resolution shall also contain findings that the imposition of the franchise assessment is necessary because of the substantial risks undertaken to develop an infrastructure district.

(7) The resolution shall provide for the collection of the franchise assessment by an officer of the authority who shall be designated in the resolution; shall provide methods for enforcement; shall provide the permitted uses of the franchise assessment; and may provide penalties for the violation of any of the provisions of the resolution. "Permitted uses" may include the provision of loans, grants, or debt service for financing or refinancing the construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement, and development of any on-site or off-site infrastructure improvements, or parking or transportation facilities, or work that reduces, abates, or prevents environmental pollution, or other improvements that provide a public benefit within or to an infrastructure district.

c. For the purposes of effective administration of the franchise assessment, the authority shall have the authority to:

(1) Collect the franchise assessment, interest, and penalties imposed by a resolution adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection b. of this section which shall from the time due be a debt of the person by whom payable to the authority, recoverable in a court of competent jurisdiction in a civil action in the name of the authority to be instituted within three years of the date due.

(2) Authorize, as an additional remedy, the chief financial officer of the EDA to issue a certificate to the clerk of the Superior Court that any person is indebted under the resolution in an amount stated in the certificate. Thereupon, the clerk to whom the certificate is issued shall immediately enter upon the record of documented judgments the name of the person, the address of the place of business where the franchise assessment liability was incurred, the amount of the debt so certified, and the date of making of the entry. The making of the entry shall have the same force and effect as the entry of a documented judgment in the office of the clerk, and the chief financial officer of the EDA shall have all the remedies and may take all the proceedings for the collection of the debt which may be had or taken upon the recovery of a judgment in an action, but without prejudice to the person's right of appeal.

(3) Provide that, if for any reason the franchise assessment is not paid when due, interest at the rate of 12% per annum on the amount of the franchise assessment due, and an additional penalty of one-half of 1% of the amount of the unpaid assessment for each month or fraction thereof during which the franchise assessment remains unpaid, shall be added and collected. When action is brought for the recovery of any franchise assessment, the person liable therefor shall, in addition, be liable for the reasonable costs of collection and the interest and penalties imposed.

Any aggrieved person may, within 90 days of the entry of the decision, order, finding, assessment or action of the chief financial officer of the EDA under this section, file an appeal in the Superior Court, upon payment of the amount stated by the chief financial officer of the EDA to be due. The appeal provided by this section shall be the exclusive remedy available to any person for review of a determination of the chief financial officer of the EDA with respect to a liability for the franchise assessment imposed.

For the purposes of this section, "franchise assessment" means an assessment on the amount of the sales price of all tangible personal property and specified digital products, sold by a business, valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise, in the amount of 50 percent of the tax imposed pursuant to the "Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.); "sales price," "tangible personal property," and "specified digital products" have the meanings given those terms by section 2 of P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-2).

L.2010, c.51, s.24.