ESTABLISHING PILOT EDUCATION TRUST ACCOUNTS FOR HOBOKEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS (B-700)

On September 4, 2024, the Hoboken City Council approved an ordinance that allows a proportional allocation of payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) revenue (currently around $500,000) to the four public school entities: Hoboken Public Schools, HOLA Dual Language School, Elysian School, and Hoboken Charter School.

The amount allocated will be based on the proportion of total public school enrollment as of the October 14th enrollment date. October 14th is also the enrollment date used for the Application for State School Aid (ASSA).

Based on the ordinance, $250,000 will be allocated by each of two different PILOTS- specifically, the Monroe Center Hoboken Urban Renewal, LLC and the LCOR Hoboken Rail Station Development LLC. The amount will be increased by 2% each year (see details below).

This agreement took approximately 4 years to negotiate and finalize, indicating the difficulty and contention in eventually reaching this fairly straightforward proportional enrollment allocation. This centered on the Hoboken Board of Education's position that ALL PILOT money should be appropriated to their control.

This was a hot button issue in late 2020, with an effort by the city to disburse the 770 Jackson St. PILOT funds to the board of education, Hoboken Charter School, Elysian Charter School, and Hoboken Dual Language Charter School unsuccessful.

 

Based on the most recent ASSA report* (Chart 1), a rough estimate based on the framework in the ordinance shows that the Hoboken Public Schools will receive approximately $187,862 from each LLC for a total of $375,726 while the three charter schools will proportionally share the remaining $62,137 from each LLC for a total of $124,274. 

Chart 1: 2024-24 ASSA Report- NJDOE
CLICK TO ENLARGE

* 2588 students in the Hoboken Public School district and 856 students in Hoboken's three charter districts. 

REGULAR MEETING OF September 4, 2024

 B-700

6. ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HOBOKEN, IN THE COUNTY OF HUDSON, NEW JERSEY ESTABLISHING PILOT EDUCATION TRUST ACCOUNTS AND APPROVING THE CONTRIBUTION OF A PORTION OF THE ANNUAL SERVICE CHARGE PROVIDED TO THE CITY OF HOBOKEN PURSUANT TO THE FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF HOBOKEN AND MONROE CENTER HOBOKEN URBAN RENEWAL, LLC AND BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF HOBOKEN AND OBSERVER HIGHWAY URBAN RENEWAL, LLC INTO THE CITY'S PILOT EDUCATION TRUST ACCOUNTS (COUNCIL MEMBER RAMOS, COUNCIL MEMBER JABBOUR)

Hoboken Pilot Agreement - 2024-09-04 by Tony Petrosino on Scribd