mobanmarketBLOOMFIELD, NJ — When it comes to predicting how much revenue Bloomfield’s payment in lieu of tax agreements (PILOTs) will raise for the township each year, it’s often a “hit or miss” situation, a town official says.
Earlier this week, Bloomfield officials held a town hall to discuss the proposed 2024 municipal spending plan. See Related: Bloomfield Budget Update; Hefty Tax Hike Looms In Town’s Future
The meeting also included a brief callout involving seven current PILOT agreements with developers.
Find out what's happening in Bloomfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
PILOT agreements, also known as municipal tax abatements, are deals that enable a developer to switch their standard tax payments for a property to a fixed, yearly payment to the municipality.
Some municipal officials have called them useful tools to attract development to distressed or blighted areas of town. But their use has drawn criticism from opponents, some of whom caution that the deals can enable a big developer to skip out on paying their fair portion of property taxes.
Find out what's happening in Bloomfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
During Monday’s town hall meeting, Bloomfield’s chief financial officer, Jennifer Semler, shared 2024 revenue data for PILOT agreements for seven residential developments:
Data for 2023 was also shared for the PILOT agreement involving 71 Locust, which came to $55,000. Data for the current year wasn’t available in Monday’s presentation.
According to Semler, the PILOTs involved in the analysis are generally long-term agreements of 30 years. Overall, the seven agreements are projected to bring in $1.94 million in revenue for 2024 – up from nearly $1.7 million in 2020.
However, Semler noted that the increase wasn’t consistent every year. In 2021 and 2022, the town saw a dip in revenue from the above seven PILOTs before it finally began rising again in 2023.
“A lot of these pilots are based on things like rent roll, which is driven by market factors,” she explained. “So as the apartment buildings charge more money, we may be able to receive more from them in revenues. But if they have a downturn – if COVID impacted them or things like that – you may see a dip down where they are having to pay less of a PILOT because their rent roll has decreased.”
“So there is some fluctuation that will happen in these areas … they are not always increasing,” Semler said.
“It’s kind of hit or miss with some of these,” the town’s CFO continued. “There are ones that maybe we may anticipate in one year. And we may not anticipate it in the next year.”
Click Here: Argentina soccer tracksuit
Send local news tips and correction requests to [email protected]. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Bloomfield Facebook page.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.