PROPOSAL: Plainfield's Pro-Active Business & Property Owners' Incentive Program

OBJECTIVE: Replace Proposed Punitive Plainfield Paid Sick Leave (PSL) Law with Positive
Incentives to Both Existing Business Owners and Existing Commercial Property Owners
Adopted by the Plainfield SID Board of Directors, October 15, 2015
A. PLAINFIELD BUSINESSES PAID TIME OFF (PTO) INCENTIVE PROGRAM
Assumptions:
a) 1000 businesses in Plainfield, about 550 of which are within Plainfield SID.
b) $300,000 in UEZ funds. Request $50,000 per year for three years for program.
Current PSL calculation: for small businesses, minimum cost is $9/hour x 24 hrs = $216 + $19 (9%) employer taxes = $235 (does not
include replacement costs). Every hour of PSL costs employer minimum of $9.81.
Proposal:
-50% reimbursement for every $1 expended on Paid Time Off (PTO), not PSL, up to $200/business. PTO allows business to be more
flexible as it covers paid sick time, personal time, and holiday/vacation time.
-Accommodate 250 businesses per year on first come, first served basis each quarter. $400 per business should equal about 40 hours
of PTO per business. Businesses use individual formulas with their employees.
-Verification: payroll record and/or canceled paycheck to employee with simple voucher signed by employer and employee.
-Reimbursement payments made quarterly by City to participating businesses.
-SID will be liaison for its members and submit overall quarterly voucher to City, who will dispense funds directly to businesses.
-Businesses also must attend one seminar per year on business improvement sponsored by City, SID, Main Street New Jersey, etc., to
remain eligible in successive years. Sample topics could be store window merchandising, job fair, employee customer service skills, bilingual messaging, etc. Proof of attendance required.
-In a positive manner, publish names of businesses participating in program rather than PSL laws initial attempt to publish violators.
Employees could review list and gravitate towards more generous employers. Non-participants are not fined or called out, but they
also do not receive the positive publicity of their peers.
-Program could be publicized a step further with This Business is a Plainfield PTO Participant 2016 poster with a City logo (and SID
logo for businesses within the SID) or to be used in ads, social media, etc., a la the SIDs Readers Choice Awards.
B. PRO-ACTIVE PROPERTY OWNER (PAPO) INCENTIVE PROGRAM
-City could also provide nominal property tax break or credit to commercial property owner who attends City/SID sponsored seminar on
pro-active approach to landlord/tenant relations in Plainfield business districts. Amount of tax credit is City decision.
-Landlord would need to show some sort of compliance with objective of seminar, such as no sidewalk sales by its tenants, monitoring
of code violations of its tenants, regular sidewalk sweeping, etc. A monitoring system by SIDs Field Coordinator during her regular
routine could be implemented.
-A violation (i.e., illegal sidewalk sale, cluttered store window) would be submitted to the landlord with a grace period for remedy or else
the tax break would be denied at the end of the calendar year.
-The tax credit would be annual to coincide with the seminars and monitoring and would be given at the end of each calendar year with
simple verification by the SID for SID commercial property owners. City will communicate with non-SID property owners directly.
-In a positive manner, publish names of property owners participating in program. Potential and existing tenants could gravitate
towards more pro-active landlords.
-Again, program could be publicized a step further with This Landlord is a Plainfield PAPO Participant-2016 poster or logo to be used
in ads, signs, etc.
CONCLUSION: The two-component PTO/PAPO program will benefit:
1) up to 250 business owners per year with a maximum $200 matching grant if they provide Paid Time Off to their employees
and attend at least one seminar;
2) employees of participating businesses who will either enjoy new PTO or will retain or increase existing PTO;
3) commercial property owners with a nominal tax incentive if they attend at least one seminar and demonstrate compliance;
4) the City of Plainfield with an innovative, incentive-based program that improves its business community with minimal
investment, as well as its own stature among other cities in NJ; and
5) the Plainfield SID who will serve as a liaison for the program between its commercial property and business owners and the
City and thus increase its stature with its members.