Official: No Mystery to Comcast Grant

A $160,000 "technology grant" Comcast Cable awarded the township in 2008 while negotiating its franchise renewal agreement here was used to help reduce the tax levy.

It's as simple as that, according to Business Administrator Tom Cardis.

Former mayor Cindy Rau-Hatton's administration put forward a Fiscal Year 2009 budget that inserted Comcast's $160,000 into the budget as general revenue, according to Cardis, who held the same position under Republican Rau-Hatton as he does now under Democratic Mayor David Mayer.

The money was used "to offset the amount to be raised by taxes. It wasn't set aside for any programs, televising Council meetings or anything like that," he said on Wednesday.

Comcast did not attach specific conditions to how the township had to spend the "technology grant"—a one-time payment—officials say.

The $160,000 grant has been by those pushing for the township to televise Council meetings for several years now.

Ray Polidoro, chairman of Gloucester Township Republican Municipal Committee, recently told Patch it was a Democrat-controlled Council that prevented the Comcast money from going toward televising Council meetings.

“When you’re outnumbered and they have enough votes, no matter what Cindy did, it would have been vetoed,” he said.

Rau-Hatton did not respond to a message left at her home Thursday afternoon seeking comment on the grant.

Polidoro, who is heading a committee formed by Mayer to explore low-cost ways to televise Council meetings, is not alone in lobbying the township to put Council meetings on TV—something that likely would happen on Black Horse Pike Regional School District's Channel 19. 

Proponents claim putting the Council meetings on TV would enable senior citizens and other residents who cannot make it to meetings at the municipal building to remain engaged in their township's government.

Mayer, who is Comcast's director of legislative affairs for New Jersey, has repeatedly said he does not want to spend taxpayer money to televise Council meetings.

BHPRSD has requested as much as $17,900 per year, plus $150 per meeting, to televise Council meetings on Channel 19, according to the mayor.

The township has been airing Council meetings via live stream on its official website since February as part of a larger initiative dubbed GT Citizens Access.

Some residents have complained about poor audio quality and breaks in coverage with the live stream in the early going.

Comcast's franchise agreement with the township, approved by Council in 2008, is a non-exclusive agreement, meaning other service providers are free to serve the area.

The agreement runs to 2023. There is a 10-year renewal provision that would take affect at that time assuming Comcast has "substantially complied with the material terms of the franchise," according to Comcast Cable Vice President of Public Relations Jeff Alexander.

The township receives annual franchise fees from Comcast. In 2008, for example, Comcast paid the township nearly $220,000 in franchise fees.