Assessing the impact of the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Southern New Jersey

RDN completed an analysis of the economic impact of the William J. Hughes Technical Center on Southern New Jersey for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA retained RDN to complete a 2020 update of the report, which was most recently updated in 2015. The study evaluated the economic impacts of the Technical Center, including financial and employment effects, in the State of New Jersey, Southern New Jersey Region, and Atlantic County. The study also evaluated property tax receipts by local jurisdictions from residents and businesses supported by Technical Center operations, including the amount of money contributed to local school systems, relative to foregone tax receipts by local jurisdiction due to the Technical Center’s tax-exempt status.

RDN worked closely with FAA staff to collect the most recent employment, payroll, and expenditure data, and identify the effective location of this spending. We used these data to analyze a wide range of impacts at the county, regional, and state levels. To conduct the analysis, RDN used the Multi-Region Input-Output methodology codified in the IMPLAN Pro 2018 modeling software. This approach allowed RDN to account for more of the economic impacts than previous studies by capturing spillover effects from neighboring areas.