One of Tektite’s heavy duty flashlights being manufactured
High taxes and workplace mandates have taken their toll on a longtime Trenton manufacturer, who explained in an op-ed published by ROI-NJ this morning that he is looking to move to Pennsylvania.
As Scott Mele, president of Tektite Industries explains, the company has been growing in Trenton for 29 years and championing the state’s capital city as a home to manufacturing.
Mele writes:
“But, sadly, I now count myself as one of the many business owners in the state who are very seriously looking to relocate across the river to Pennsylvania. In fact, we have already investigated four sites thus far and have another 10 or so on our list.
“In our case, New Jersey’s high taxes, compounded by the new workplace mandates over the past year, are simply too much to bear. We are already eliminating our summer internship program and, in order to stay in New Jersey, we will need to eliminate or greatly reduce our contributions to our employee healthcare….
“I was born and raised here. My father is a retired New Jersey state trooper. I consider myself a Trenton booster. But the cost of doing business, our high taxes and our officials’ failure to recognize the overall impacts of their policies leave me little choice but to look elsewhere.”