A state agency is disputing Mayor Steven Fulop’s claim that its tax credits will provide $67.5 million in operating revenues for a Pompidou art museum in Journal Square.At a town hall meeting on Saturday, Fulop said that tax credits that would have come from construction at the now abandoned Pathside building would be repurposed to fund millions in yearly operating expenses for a museum at 808 Pavonia Avenue. “That EDA grant…that we were using for construction before, we’re permitted to use that for operations now, so that carries the majority of the burden for the next ten years,” said the mayor.In a statement to the Jersey City Times today, an NJEDA spokesperson wrote “The Centre Pompidou project has not been approved for any tax incentives from the NJEDA. The museum could be eligible for incentives under our Cultural Arts & Facilities Program, but applications for the program have not yet opened. As with all our tax incentive programs, applications would have to be approved by our Board.”Tax credits from future Cultural Arts and Facilities Program will not, it appears, be usable for operating expenses. In a May video presentation, Jorge Santos of the EDA explained that “the point of the program is to create physical spaces.” The ten-year projected budget for Pompidou Jersey City relies upon a total of $67.5 million in “State Tax Credits” that Mayor Fulop says are transferable from the the abandoned project at the Pathside building.The administration’s first plan for a Pompidou museum located at the Pathside building was scuttled when the state pulled funding, citing a $19 million yearly operating budget deficit.The Jersey City Municipal Council is set to vote tomorrow on a 30-year tax abatement for the developer KRE. In exchange for the abatement, KRE has agreed to build a 100,000 sq. ft. space to house the Pompidou in the Pavionia Avenue project.The post State Agency Blows $67.5 Million Hole in Fulop’s Pompidou Budget appeared first on Jersey City Times.