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Road Warrior Newsletter




February 16, 2017

Dear NJGCA Member:

Thank you for reading this week's NJGCA Road Warrior!

Here is what you will find in this edition:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:
• Expiration of 3.5% Sales Tax Rate in Urban Enterprise Zones; Efforts to Raise Tobacco Purchase Age to 21 in Passaic County; Successful Breakfast Meeting in East Brunswick; 2017 Member Benefit Partner Brochure in the Mail

NJGCA CLASSIFIEDS
- Gilbarco Encore 300 Dispensers for Sale.  Brand New in 2003.

NEWS AROUND THE STATE

Cuomo blocks New York City's plastic bag fee
How Deep a Tobacco Hole Would Walgreens Leave?
Retail Groups Meet With Lawmakers on Swipe Fee Reform
Christie rejects sales tax cut for 5 N.J. cities

TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE!
• ENTIRE Emission Repair Technician Training Starts Feb. 14
• Emissions Inspector Training - ONE DAY ONLY - Feb. 23rd
• Emission Repair Tech Re-Cert (Section 8, 9, 10) starts March 7

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE BOARD
• ATS Environmental: Confidence in your Tank & Compliance Testing

• Bellomo Fuel: Exceptional Service, Aggressive Petroleum Marketing
Gill Energy: Getting you There!
TMP Energy Solutions: Another Way to Save On Your Energy Bills

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
• Participate in the NJGCA PAC today and help us keep our Agenda rolling in Trenton!

*NEW*Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices

JOIN NJGCA ON FACEBOOK -- CLICK HERE

TO SEE OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL -- CLICK HERE

                                                                                                                                                                 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE: GREETINGS & SAL-UTATIONS!

EXPIRATION OF 3.5% SALES TAX IN URBAN ENTERPRISE ZONES
EFFORTS TO RAISE TOBACCO PURCHASE AGE TO 21 IN PASSAIC COUNTY
SUCCESSFUL BREAKFAST MEETING IN EAST BRUNSWICK
2017 MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER BROCHURE IN THE MAIL

For those of you with businesses in Bridgeton, Camden, Newark, Plainfield or Trenton, you should be aware that for 25 years, since 1983, your towns have been designated as Urban Enterprise Zones and your customers have enjoyed a 3.5% sales tax rate (a 50% discount).  Additionally, if you are purchasing items from a retailer (auto parts, bulk oil, c-store products, etc.) from a company or wholesaler in any of these five towns, you also received the benefit of a 3.5% sales tax rate. This provision expired on January 1, 2017, and although a bill passed through the Legislature to extend the UEZ provisions for two years, that legislation was vetoed by Governor Christie earlier this week.  We informed members about the possibility of these changes coming at the end of last year, but I want to again remind you, if your business is located in Bridgeton, Camden, Newark, Plainfield or Trenton, you should have reverted back to the full amount of 6.875% sales tax when the UEZ program expired on January 1, 2017, and now that the proposed extension has been officially vetoed, you must cont///inue at that rate.
 
Next, the municipal battles surrounding tobacco issues are heating up. We are looking for local businesses in Bloomingdale and surrounding towns (both Morris and Passaic Counties) to help us form a coalition to prevent the tobacco purchase age from being increased to 21. An effort is underway to infiltrate 20+ towns in the Passaic/northern Morris County area and there is no way for us to stop it unless local small business owners get involved and tell their Mayor and Council how harmful this would be to businesses in those areas. NJGCA will be there with you every step of the way, but we cannot win this fight alone!
 
Also this week, NJGCA hosted a very successful Breakfast Meeting in East Brunswick.  Our members got a chance to discuss topics of interest and areas of concern with me, including the gas tax and classification rates for workers compensation insurance, among many other things. They enjoyed a free breakfast, and two members won door prizes! Lou Sitar of Sitar’s Service in Carteret won a $50 American Express giftcard and George Christiana of Sweeny’s Gulf in East Brunswick won a case of Gulftec Motor Oil, courtesy of NJGCA MBP Hough Petroleum. See below for pictures, and join us at our next stop on the Diner Tour: the Candlewyck Diner in East Rutherford on March 22nd.

                                     
                               Lou Sitar                                      George Christiana
 
Finally, look out for our 2017 Member Benefit Partner (MBP) Brochure in the mail over the next week. Attendees at this week’s Diner Tour got the first copies, which were picked up from the printer Tuesday night. Yours will be delivered shortly! Please make NJGCA’s MBP Brochure the FIRST place you go when you are looking for new insurance options, vendors, suppliers, uniforms, credit card processors, or any other goods or services.  We work hard to ensure that our MBPs won't disappoint you!


Thanks for reading -- See you all next week!

Sal Risalvato
Executive Director 

                                                                                                                                                         

TRAINING CLASSES!!

All classes held at NJGCA HQ -- 4900 Route 33 West, Wall Township, NJ 07753

ENTIRE Emission Repair Technician Education Program
Stop turning away work!!  The NJ Emissions Inspection Program requires vehicles that fail emissions inspection to go to a Licensed Certified Emission Repair Facility! When the new program begins, a list of Certified Emission Repair Shops will be provided to vehicle owners! If you want your business on the list, make sure you have a Certified Licensed Emission Repair Technican & an Emission Repair Facility License!
 
Don’t miss this opportunity!!  Your technician can complete the entire course in just five weeks! Classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning on February 14, 2017, from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Cost: $1,995
Emissions Inspector Training Class - One Day Only!
Want one of your technicians to become a NJ Emissions Inspector? We can help! Our one-day class will provide all the information for becoming a NJ Emissions Inspector, and the State will administer the written test the very same day at our offices!  We are offering the class: Thursday, February 23rd from 7:00am to 3:00pm. Cost $250.
Click HERE for the registration form.



Emission Repair Technician Re-Cert (Sections 8, 9 10)
Are you already an Emission Repair Technican, looking to re-certify? We have your class too! Renew your license in just two weeks.  The classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays (March 7, 9, 14 and 16) from 1:00pm to 9:00pm.
Please register by clicking HERE.



FUTURE CLASSES WILL BE ADDED UPON REQUEST AND ACCORDING TO DEMAND. CONTACT DEBBIE at 732-256-9646 or DEBBIE@NJGCA.ORG TO LET HER KNOW YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING A SPECIFIC CLASS.  THIS WILL ALLOW US TO GAUGE YOUR NEEDS AND KEEP TRACK OF THOSE WISHING TO PARTICIPATE!!

                                                                                                                                                               

 CLASSIFIEDS! -- FOR SALE & HELP WANTED ADS

Gilbarco Encore 300 dispensers.  Brand New in 2003.  Pumps work great, just no card readers.  Call Katie or Al at 732-739-1360.

Also offering: Transac system for pumps and two dual LSI island lights

                                                                                                                                                                               

NEWS AROUND THE STATE: THE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW


02/15/2017:
Cuomo blocks New York City's plastic bag fee
Efforts to keep plastic bags from polluting regional waterways took a significant step back this week when NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo blocked NYC’s 5-cent bag fee just hours before it was to take effect. The move affects NJ because grocery bags and other thin films make up about 20% of the plastic garbage found in the rivers and streams in the two states' shared watershed, according to a study last year by NY/NJ Baykeeper. NYC’s fee and a similar one proposed for NJ have faced significant opposition from plastics manufacturers.  Plastic grocery bags have become so synonymous with litter that they have been banned in several U.S. cities, California and Hawaii, and China and India, among other countries. But Cuomo called the fee "deeply flawed" because store owners would be allowed to keep the estimated $100 million raised annually by the fee, instead of the state using it to fund environmental programs. Cuomo, who has a long-standing feud with NYC Mayor City Bill de Blasio, instead announced a task force to report on the effects of plastic bags statewide by the end of the year.
 
02/14/2017:
How Deep a Tobacco Hole Would Walgreens Leave?
The quickly growing influence of stockholders is putting public companies such as Walgreens on the defensive. With investors pressuring the drug-store giant to retreat from tobacco just as rival CVS decided to do in 2015, the hole Walgreens would leave could trigger a major windfall for convenience retailers. As reported earlier this year, Walgreens has had to respond to growing shareholder concerns that its health-and-wellness mantra runs contrary to tobacco sales. CVS said the contradiction led to its withdrawal from the category.  While saying it is currently not considering such a drastic divorce, Walgreens officials did leave open the possibility for ongoing discussion. Click above to see what a potential end to tobacco sales at Walgreens would mean to c-stores and other tobacco retailers …
 
02/10/2017:
Retail Groups Meet With Lawmakers on Swipe Fee Reform
The retail community banded together and met with federal legislators to discuss keeping hard-fought swipe fee reforms in place.  More than 60 representatives from NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), National Retail Federation (NRF), Merchant Advisory Group, Food Marketing Institute, and the National Restaurant Association visited Capitol Hill to tell lawmakers "how pro-competitive debit reforms have positively impacted their businesses and ask Congress to stand with Main Street retailers by opposing any efforts to weaken or repeal the law," according to RILA. The 2010 Durbin Amendment — part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act — put in place debit card swipe fee regulations which, in part, capped those fees at 21 cents per transaction plus five basis points, or .05 percent of the transaction. However, those reforms have come under fire from federal legislators looking to repeal the regulations.
 
02/10/2017:
Christie rejects sales tax cut for 5 N.J. cities
Gov. Christie took action that guarantees shoppers patronizing many businesses in cities across the state will pay twice the sales tax they'd been charged for about three decades. The sales tax had long been cut in half for shoppers patronizing businesses participating in the Urban Enterprise Program, which was designed to boost commercial activity in economically depressed areas. The tax actually went up to the full 6.875 percent state rate on Jan. 1 in five cities  -- Bridgeton, Camden, Newark, Plainfield, and Trenton -- when Christie did not act on a bill that would have extended the program two years. On Friday, he conditionally vetoed that bill, ensuring that the sales tax will not be cut back in those cities.  Christie said the UEZ program faced "apathetic participation" and delivered a "devastating impact on state revenues without any demonstrable benefit" to the cities. "The alleged need for, and merits of, the program urged by its supporters is belied by the fact that only 18.3 percent of qualified businesses in UEZs participate in the program," Christie said in his veto. "I cannot condone this bill's further extension of this wasteful and failed program." His rejection was met with swift disapproval from the bill's advocates.

                                                                                                                                                                  

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE BOARD:






TMP Energy Solutions

Another Way to Save on Your Energy Bills

We have had a number of NJGCA members successfully reduce their rate per kWh signing up through our energy saving program. We know it's difficult to collect 12 months worth of previous electric bills to get an "accurate" analysis when comparing a variable rate to a fixed rate, but we now have another option available. 

This new solution is a power purchase option; the other program is still in full force and has saved members thousands of dollars. If you sign up for the power purchase option, you will be grouped with other NJGCA members until the minimum kW demand is acquired. By pooling the member's usage together, you will be able to take advantage, as large energy users do, and receive a lower kWh rate.

Each member will receive their own contract. Each member is responsible to sign and return the agreement the day it is received in order to secure the price for their group.

Please do your due diligence, so when you receive the proposal and the agreement you will be able to make an intelligent decision.

If by chance, you still want us to assess you bills, to give you a price to compare, we will require 12 months of your most recent utility bills.

There are no bills required, but we would still like to have one bill per meter on file to check account #'s, meter #'s  service addresses and other pertinent information incase there is a problem.

The term of the agreement is for 12 months. During this term period, you will have price protection against any energy price increases along with a low fixed kWh rate.

If you are interested in becoming part of this power purchase option, please contact Greg Cannon at the NJGCA.

Remember when you sign up your energy through the NJGCA Energy Program, TMP makes a considerable donation to the NJGCA Scholarship Fund through their proceeds. This has no affect on your rate, and costs you nothing out of pocket.

We hope to help hundreds of NJGCA members reduce their utility costs by participating in this and our other cost reduction programs.  Our purpose, in the endeavor, is to help NJGCA members lower their energy costs while supporting the NJGCA Scholarship Fund. 

Contact GREG CANNON at 732-256-9646 or email Greg at greg@njgca.org. Mention that you are interested in saving money on your energy bills. NJGCA & TMP Energy Solutions will handle all the rest. 

                                                                                                                                                                        

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC

DEFENDING OUR MEMBERS.
PROTECTING YOUR INTERESTS.
ANSWER THE CALL & CONTRIBUTE TODAY!!

Promoting our agenda in Trenton is of utmost importance to NJGCA and our members.

However, in order to truly affect the debate, we must ensure our friends in the Legislature are re-elected. It is for this reason that your Association has established the NJGCA PAC.

For too long, the weight of funding our Political Action Committee, the arm of the Association responsible for political donations, has rested upon a few. This is not only unfair to those few members who have shouldered this burden, but means we are not utilizing our full strength to affect the debate in Trenton.

To truly understand the importance of supporting our allies, consider our successes in Trenton:

We defeated BELOW COST SELLING
We made history in getting FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL signed into law!
We have built large support for RIGHT TO REPAIR and got it passed out of the Assembly
We defended your small business against the false accusations of Attorney General Anne Milgram
We gained wide support to move New Jersey to an all PIF Inspection System and close the CIF lanes
...and MUCH MORE!!

In each instance, we achieved these goals with the help of our friends in the Legislature!

If every member contributes just $100.00 we will be able to provide the help necessary to ensure victory for our allies. 

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
NJGCA PAC
4900 Route 33 West, Suite 100
Wall Township, NJ 07753
Please make your donation payable to NJGCA PAC

I understand that times are tough for all NJGCA members, but this is just as important as any battle we have fought in the past.

We have made great progress in Trenton. I hope that you will answer the call. 

                                                                                                                                     

*NEW*Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices

Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior.  Remember, these prices are for reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.