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| David Mello and 770 Jackson Street |
As a City Council member in the Summer of 2016, I sponsored the attached resolution regarding the future 770 Jackson Street PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes). On the eve of an important meeting regarding this payment, I wanted to offer this summary to help clarify the intent behind the City Council resolution. The main reason for sharing this is that the means by which public schools in Hoboken are funded is complicated and often misunderstood, so my hope is that this post will help to separate fact from opinion as our current City Council debates this new funding stream.
The 770 Jackson PILOT agreement between the developer, Bijou Properties ( http://www.bijouproperties.com/ ) and the City of Hoboken included a resolution passed by the City Council to make public education in Hoboken "whole", through a payment in lieu of taxes, intended to provide the same level of funding that each of the four public school systems in Hoboken would have received from a normal, unPILOTed, local tax levy. It was my intent, as the sponsor, that this resolution require a portion of this PILOT payment to the City of Hoboken to be distributed to each of the four public and tax payer supported school systems in Hoboken, estimated to be equal to the amount that each would have received if the developer paid their taxes via a typical tax levy.
All four schools have their actual funding fluctuate year to year, regardless of any change in their total number of enrollment; however, the funding formula remains the same. The formula, established by the State of NJ, determines how the collected tax dollars fund each school on a per pupil basis (referred to as "tuition" under the law), so that revenue earmarked for education follows the Hoboken student. Less taxes collected equals a drop in the per pupil amount calculation for any and all of the schools. (NJSA 18A:36A-12)
Our resolution also protected taxpayers from covering the reduction in tax dollars collected. The payment to the four Hoboken-based public school systems removes the need for the City of Hoboken to raise the tax rate in order to collect additional educational funds, equivalent to what the total would have been if the developer had been required to pay their fair share of the property taxes in full.
It was my understanding and intent that the phrase "Hoboken School District" include all four public school districts: The Hoboken BOE, Hoboken Charter School, Hola Hoboken Dual Language Charter School and Elysian Charter School. Table 5 (see attached) of the resolution includes the data used to calculate the portion of the payment that should be distributed to the Hoboken School District (i.e. all four public school districts) in lieu of the taxes not collected. The number of students in the table is a sum total of ALL four public schools' enrollment, and this number was used to calculate the potential negative impact of the PILOT program (i.e. what would be needed to make all four districts "whole.").
The payment by the property owner (in lieu of taxes) was intended for equitable distribution to all four public school districts. Nobody was to be shortchanged.
We are stronger together than apart. All four of our publicly funded school systems in Hoboken need to share in this new funding source fairly. This development was a massive team effort, and I was honored and privileged to have been a key member of the team that worked to revitalize this crucial part of Hoboken. Please don't let this project take an ugly turn years after our efforts came to fruition - efforts that were meant to benefit ALL of Hoboken.
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