(Counter-Clockwise L to R) City Clerk Victoria Kupsch, Attorney Roman B. Himiak, Councilwoman Milady Tejeda, Councilman Joel Pabon *Photos by Carolyn Maxwell
4/22/19 Caucus Meeting
By: Carolyn Maxwell
PERTH AMBOY – PILOTS have been heavily criticized by some residents in the City of Perth Amboy. Their arguments have always been that the City and School System have been taken advantage of by companies whom they believe PILOTS should not have been awarded to. The latest PILOT discussed was for a developer of 225 Elm Street (NCP Perth Amboy Urban Renewal Lease).
James Fearon from Gluck Walrah LL9 came up to speak regarding Ordinance No. 1 (First Reading) -Approving the execution of a financial agreement (with NCP) and other applicable documents related to the authorization and issuance by the City of Perth Amboy not to exceed $2,800,000 redevelopment area bonds (non-recourse to the full faith and credit of the City) and determining various other matters in connection therewith.
B.A. Frederick Carr (L) with James Fearon from Gluck Walrah LL9 (R)
Mr. Fearon stated, “The bond would be in default if the PILOT (funds) are not paid. The City could force the property to do a tax sale. The company (NCP) must form an entity in the State for a tax exemption. The developer bears part of the risk of land tax. They expect the land tax to accelerate at 3% in value per year. If the value of the taxes increases more than 3%, then the City and developer will split the difference of the overestimate. It’s a tax credit. In the package that was given the Council, there is an estimated $205,000 debt service charge that was changed to $210,000. The 3% increase was reduced to 2.5%. The PILOT is for 22 years. The two buildings will be brought online at the same time.”
Councilman Fernando Irizarry asked, “How much is the Board of Education not getting?”
Fearon answered, “They will get what they need. The tax rate will be higher because there will be less buildings to get revenue from.”
Councilman Helmin Caba then stated, “We have to make sure this money (from the PILOT) is used properly. “
Council President Bill Petrick then asked about the annual service charges.
Fearon replied, “A dollar amount will need to be negotiated. The first year of the PILOT, the City is expected to get $400,000 and the second year it will be $615,000.”
After the discussion about the Elm Street Property, Business Administrator Frederick Carr addressed the Council regarding R-183-4/19 – Amending the CY 2019 Budget. Carr requested that some of the members of the Council meet with him and the City Auditor to discuss topics regarding personnel that cannot be discussed in public. “If there are additions to the Budget, and if the Mayor’s Budget is adjusted by the Council, it will require four “Yes” votes,” stated Carr. He continued, “Your additions impacted the deductions. You can’t have one without the other. The Mayor can’t veto the Budget. We received your (the Council’s) recommendations on Thursday midnight (4/18/19). We told the Mayor to cut some of her expenses from the State of the City event.”
R-187-4/19 – Authorizing Change Order No. 5 to the contract with Helios Construction Inc. increasing the contract for Waterfront Park Improvements in an amount not to exceed $20,900.
Former B.A. Greg Fehrenbach explained that the fence for this park had already been moved and this is a settlement by the contractor to close this case.
B.A. Carr then explained R-188-4/19 – Affirming the establishment and authority of the Community Emergency Response Team under the authority of the Office of Emergency Management. “We had this agency 20 years ago and they were put back together and they were all volunteers.”
Councilman Irizarry and Council President Petrick asked Carr if he could provide more information about this.
Carr stated, “This is to augment the police during special events, such as using them for traffic control.”
Carr then explained R-192-4/19 – Resolution to override the Mayor’s Veto of an Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled “Wreckers” adopted August 4, 1992.” He stated, “The Mayor said that it would cost the taxpayers additional money.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “The Council should have retracted the ordinance. The wreckers said that information was lacking. It doesn’t protect the City and what is in the ordinance can cause us to be sued.”
Carr then stated, “The ordinance was supposed to be amended at a later time.”
Council President Bill Petrick then stated, “The towers said they needed prices in order to get reimbursed by insurance companies.”
Pabon then stated that there were two prices in the ordinance.
Petrick proceeded to give more information, “It depended on where they had to tow from. The biggest lawsuit is that it was from out-of-town towers who sued us.”
Councilman Pabon then suggested, “We should hold this over for another meeting. There’s no harm in pulling this resolution out. We just need to get the correct language.”
Council President Petrick spoke up again, “How should we handle this. If we pass this resolution, would the current contract still be enforced?”
Councilman Irizarry spoke up next, “This has been talked about before. We need to take care of every issue. This is ridiculous. Let’s get this right.”
Petrick responded, “We can’t satisfy everyone.”
Pabon spoke up and said, “The towers fight amongst themselves. Let’s talk to Chief Cattano about this.”
City Attorney Roman B. Hirniak (from law firm of King & Petracca, LLP sitting in for Peter King who was on vacation) said, “There are two components (business and legal) for this ordinance to be passed and to prevent possible litigation.
Councilman Helmin Caba then spoke up and questioned, “Where are our Department Heads?”
B.A. Carr responded, “The Mayor said that the Council was disrespectful to City Employees and said one employee in particular was dead weight.”
Caba continued, “It was uncalled for and unprofessional for the Mayor to have a tantrum and tell the Department Heads to stay away from meetings. It’s disrespectful to the residents for Department Heads or their representatives not be here and answer questions. The Police, Fire Department, and DPW should not have cuts (in their budget). Some of the nonessential employees are telling people it’s the Council’s fault for these cuts.”
Council President Petrick made some comments. “It will facilitate our meetings if the Department Heads are here to answer our questions that may have to be discussed in closed session. I request that the Department Heads be here for the Caucus Meetings.”
There was a lengthy discussion regarding R-197-4/19 – Authorizing payment to Matthew W. Petracca Esq. of the law firm of King and Petracca, LLP for legal services regarding the redemption of properties on the in rem tax foreclosure list in the amount of $20,000.
Attorney Hirniak explained that this is to collect money from property owners that have not paid their taxes in a long time and the City has to hire people to collect these unpaid taxes.
Councilman Irizarry spoke up and said, “We tend to spend more money to collect these unpaid taxes than what is actually owed to the City.”
The attorney explained, “It’s a pool of properties. $56,705 was collected for unpaid taxes. We paid someone $20,000 to collect these taxes. The profit to us was $36,705.”
Irizarry then asked, “Can a tax collector remove some of the properties that owe a low amount to the City?”
Council President Petrick spoke up next, “Can we do a flat rate to collect monies on all those properties? What triggered this collection?”
The attorney responded, “You need to address this to the Tax Collector.”
Councilman Caba spoke up and said, “That’s why we need Department Heads here.”
Communication No. 8 was discussed. Regarding NJDOT advising that the Department is unable to provide a Municipal Aid Grant for the replacement of the Fayette Street Bridge Project.
B.A. Carr explained, “This was for a design and specifications for a competitive grant. It was based on needs. Everybody gets something. NJDOT said that the City had already received money before and that’s all that we’re going to be getting.”
Former B.A. Fehrenbach then spoke up, “There was $1 million that was earmarked from the DOT that the City received. Because we got the $1 million already, it may have had an effect as to why we did not get any additional money.”
During the public portion, Resident Stanley Sierakowski spoke first. He talked about a retaining wall that will cost $200 million. “Let the developer do it. The steel company years ago paid for a wall.” Sierakowski then talked about R-193-4/19 – Making application to the local finance board pursuant to N.J.S.A. and authorizing an agreement relating thereto for the NCP Perth Amboy Urban Renewal LLC Project (225 Elm St.). He told the Council to do more research on the 22-25-year PILOT. “How much will it cost the City? You need a spreadsheet. What’s the difference between the estimated taxes versus a PILOT? See what they have to provide the City. Will the residential area be affected? If you can’t get all the information of what the 50 acres encompasses, then hold off until you get everything.”
Resident Ken Balut came up next and asked, “Who is the owner of 950 High Street? The Mayor takes all the credit when there were no tax increases in 2017 and 2018 but gives you no credit. The taxes for the PILOT will be paid for by the taxpayers and schools will get nothing. Our taxes will go up. How much will the schools and residents lose in the 22 years? This warehouse will get a PILOT, but how many people will be employed? Most of the work will be automated. The Mayor’s people and friends are benefiting.”
Businesswoman and Resident Sharon Hubberman came up next and asked the Council to table R-193. She then read an ordinance regarding appointments to PARA (Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency). “According to this ordinance, the Council should be making the appointments to PARA. Since the Mayor made the appointments, they were illegal. The Council can put a penalty on the Mayor for violating the ordinance. We have a $5 million gap in our budget. Why are we issuing out debt in redevelopment? Illegal practices have been going on for too long. We have an illegal Redevelopment Agency and all contracts they sign should be broken. Illegal activities cause illegal actions. We are strategically located.”
Resident Lisa Nanton came up next, “In the time I was on the Council, we’ve had four different Law Directors and four different Business Administrators. 52 people just in my immediate area alone left Perth Amboy. 58%-67% of the surrounding cities around us are owner occupied residences. Our income level is lower as in our poverty level. We have a 5.7% tax increase. I can understand an increase if it helps our infrastructure or waterline improvements. Patronage positions should be cut. No more PILOTS, please. Stop accepting crumbs and throwing away money. What about all the companies that have left? It’s a death knell.”
Businessman and Resident David Caba came up next, “We are losing good people – 345 State St. and 121 Market St. The City Attorney said that an Acting Director said it was a friend he tried to help out. Plumbing and electrical work was done one of the houses and four inspectors showed up. All inspectors will tell you if you need corrections. People use Code Enforcement to go after you. There will be consequences.”
Council President Petrick responded, “The Code Enforcement Director has been on the job for about 6 months.”
Caba continued, “The inspector should have told his friend that if he had a temporary C/O, he should have been told to make corrections to get a permanent C/O. A person who is doing the right thing is now being held up. We have to be fair. Give the job (Code Enforcement Director) to someone who knows the State Codes and is a professional. They need to know the C/O process.”
Resident Alan Silber came up and stated, “Our previous Mayor was large and thin-skinned, but he had every Department Head attend the meetings. When Arlene Quinones came here, she had every Department Head here to endorse her. The Mayor (Diaz) was thin-skinned because Councilman Caba questioned Walensky (hiring qualifications). The day after her inauguration, the Mayor hired her friends who then hired their friends. The police were concerned in December 2018 about 20 police officers who were being laid-off. If things are on the agenda that you don’t have proper information on, then just table them. I thought we hired an attorney to take care of delinquent tax problems. I guess I was wrong.”
