So that extra meeting room, now under construction, will meet a much-needed space crunch, Ross said. Lakewood's effort was mirrored in countless local governments across the state and county that were in the collective pursuit of billions of federal tax dollars. The more people, the more federal aid. The largest chunk of the money that New Jersey gets is Medicaid funding, which pays for the medical care of poor people. Other money goes to transportation grants, job training money, even foster and day care.
Block grants are the largest component of that aid.
The downside of Lakewood's growth is how it might affect the Ocean County consortium's remaining 30 member towns. They may see fewer dollars without Lakewood in the mix. Brick and Dover, which have long had populations over 50,000, already apply directly to HUD for their community development grants. In Monmouth County, Asbury Park, Long Branch and Middletown apply separately from that county's consortium. Lakewood is different than most other places in the county.