I enjoyed seeing some of you at the 104th Annual New Jersey League of Municipalities (League) at the Atlantic City Convention Center. The League brings together elected officials, legislators, contractors, constituents and government agencies for a three day networking and educational event each year.
I hope those who attended enjoyed their time and had an opportunity to visit the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s (NJDOT) two booths. Representatives from both our Office of Government and Community Relations and our Local Aid Resource Center were there answering questions and addressing comments and concerns.
Governor Phil Murphy made an exciting announcement at the League – 96 percent of New Jersey Municipalities are receiving Municipal Aid grant awards from NJDOT, totaling $161.25 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020—benefiting 542 municipalities throughout the state! These are the first awards being made under NJDOT’s new Municipal Aid grant cycle, which now better aligns with the state’s construction season and municipal budget cycles. Accelerating the FY 2020 Municipal Aid grant cycle will help municipalities and counties better plan and execute important infrastructure projects—fulfilling another commitment to our communities.
In addition to changing the grant cycle, NJDOT created a Local Aid Resource Center earlier this year to provide publically accessible, proactive online assistance in support of local agencies. The Local Aid Resource Center is a digital hub that assists communities with project planning, grant applications, project delivery and guidance through the federal grant process by offering customized in-person training sessions, webinars, a library of YouTube videos and a dedicated telephone hotline that works to resolve technical issues. Our trained representatives are available and happyf to provide guidance as needed. We hope you will take full advantage of this valuable resource, newly available at NJDOT.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and please feel free to share it with your colleagues. If you have any questions about any of the information in the newsletter please feel free to contact NJDOT’s Local Aid Resource Center at 609-649-9395.