Vineland, NJ, Reveals Taxpayer-Funded Broadband Project Plans, But Refuses to Release Feasibility Study

Vineland, New Jersey, is planning a proposed taxpayer-funded municipal internet project at a cost of up to $40 million. Despite releasing a description of the government-owned network (GON) in February, the city continues to be secretive with the feasibility study that led bureaucrats to move forward with the plan.

Vineland intends to piggyback on a project through the Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program. Through this program, more than $24 million has been allocated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to Cumberland and Salem counties to extend around 200 miles of fiber.

Although Comcast covers nearly 99 percent of Vineland with speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second (and other wireless and satellite providers help fill in the gaps), Vineland Mayor Anthony Fanucci said in a letter to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities included in the project synopsis that, “I am uniquely concerned with both the reach and the quality of the Broadband services currently furnished to our residents by the major service providers in the region.”

The city’s consultant, Bonfire, further claims that 42 percent of Vineland doesn’t have access to viable and quality broadband service. It is impossible to determine how Bonfire determined that number because the city refuses to release the feasibility study that the consultant prepared for Vineland. This assessment may be more in self-interest than honest evaluation since the company was formed in Colorado in 2016 and provides broadband engineering and construction services nationwide.

In a blow to transparency and understanding the true broadband needs of the city, the city has denied open-records requests from both the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation (TPAF) and public interest group Jersey First to access records related to the project.

TPAF sent an open-records request to Vineland City Clerk Keith Petrosky in November seeking a copy of the study prepared by Bonfire, which was paid $221,400 for the work.

TPAF also requested raw data underlying the study and any additional documents regarding taxpayer financing for the potential project. To alleviate concerns about sensitive information, TPAF noted it was not requesting document drafts that would be protected under the deliberative process privilege.

The open-records request was denied in full by the city. In a response to TPAF, Vineland legal secretary Maryanne Wolf wrote that the 54-page report is “deliberative in nature” and the state open-records law “permits the government to withhold documents that reflect advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations comprising part of a process by which governmental decisions and policies are formulated.”

Wolf further wrote in explanation that part of the report “would give an advantage to competitors or bidders” if disclosed. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has written extensively about GONs over the years, noting that consultants like Bonfire often offer turn-key services. What typically happens is that cities request feasibility studies, the consultants tell them they should build a GON and then the city contracts with the consultant to build said GON.

Wolf claimed, too, in her response to TPAF that if certain information in the report was disclosed it could “jeopardize security of a building or facility or persons therein as well as security measures and surveillance techniques.” One has to wonder if Vineland is building a GON or a secret underground bunker.

Jersey First requested the same feasibility study and received a similar response.

In the response to Jersey First, Wolf attached a copy of a signed order by Superior Court Judge Benjamin Telsey denying the request for the broadband study in the case Moore v. City of Vineland. Telsey ruled on December 6 that the study shall be denied under the state open-records law and the common law right of access.

As noted in TPA’s recent report, “GON with the Wind II: Frankly, Taxpayers Do Care,” the middle-mile plan calls for nearly 89 miles of fiber in Cumberland County and 64 miles in Salem County, with 15 miles to interconnect both counties and nearly 48 miles to connect the fiber ring to data center points of presence. In its abstract, Vineland showed a preliminary estimate of $37.2 million for its GON. The city said it “has not yet sourced funding for this project, but is exhaustively exploring all opportunities – including grant and discretionary funding – to fully develop the multiple funding sources that will be required for this project.”

Presumably, Vineland hopes to tap into the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, the $42.5 billion initiative that will fund projects across the United States over the next several years. The abstract notes that “Congressionally Directed Spending will be crucial to the success of this FTTP Network and the Utility as a whole, putting Vineland in a position to propel Utility Operating Income over and above debt service.”

The city intends to put out requests for proposals for construction by the end of 2024, with the goal of an operational broadband network by the second quarter of 2025.

As TPA has reported, the congressionally created BEAD places an emphasis on nontraditional providers such as municipalities. But as TPA has also noted in its reports, such GONs tend to hemorrhage taxpayer money.

TPA and others have criticized the federal middle-mile funding program because such infrastructure doesn’t connect any customers, and instead depends on providers to build the “last mile” to homes and businesses. Middle-mile fiber is also often duplicative, wasting tax dollars in the process. Because providers usually have their own infrastructure, they often decline to connect to such middle-mile networks.

The federal middle-mile program has also been in the crosshairs of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which criticized the Biden administration for ignoring recommendations for creating a national broadband strategy. The GAO pointed out that the middle-mile program is one of 133 broadband funding programs administered by 15 federal agencies.

If taxpayers are footing the bill for a feasibility study, they (and potential alternate bidders) should be allowed to see the documents. In many other instances across the United States, cities release GON studies before signing contracts with consultants for the projects. There is no reason that Vineland could not do the same.

Johnny Kampis is director of telecom policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.