I’ve heard talk about pilot programs recently and I’m not sure I completely understand what they are. It has something do to with taxes and developers but I’m not sure what. Anyone out there know what the hell they are?
I’m lead to believe they are bad. That they are a short-term fix to a long-term problem - our budget. Which, by the way, I know, is seriously suspect and full of more pork and waste than you could imagine (do we really need a $1m+ WWII memorial?). I’m also under the impression that they are politically connected somehow to the current government but I can’t say with any certainly that our elected officials are under the take of some scheming land barron (but I wouldn’t rule it out either).
Anyway, I really want to know the math behind such a program. I’m not an accountant - but I am a business person with business savvy - and do understand fiscal policy. So if someone could tell me what they are, I can make an informed decision come election time.
By the way, there are many people up for election in the next few months and we should all be aware of what’s going around us. In towns like ours, every vote does matter and some elections in the past have swung by the smallest number. I cannot urge everyone who reads this enough that there are serious issues we need to deal with in the next year and these pilot programs, I hear, play a large role in who is for what, why, and what they mean to our community.
But for now, I ask that someone tell me what pilot programs are and why they are good/bad for Hoboken. Everyone should be asking… Are they?
Pilots are Payments in lieu of taxes and a the typically thing that a developer can use to reduce the City of Hoboken taxes during and after construction. Hoboken is addicted to them because they uses these special one time payments to plug spending gaps. Instead of fixing the real problem which is rampant out-of-control spending. They also talk about new “ratables” a lot. New ratables are new apartments that can be charged at the proper tax rate without having to raise taxes on the old brownstones (i.e. long-time residences.) Who wants to raise taxes or reduce spending when we have an open spigot like Pilots and new ratables.
Ostensibly, PILOT programs are set up to entice developers to build in blighted areas. Property taxes may be reduced by as much as 40% and are set for a fixed amount of time, making for a more attractive deal for the developer and buyers. More importantly, the entire tax payment is made to the city, bypassing school and county taxes. The city ends up getting more than it would have with the typical municipal/school/county split. Non-PILOT-paying property owners are then burdened with funding the balance of school and county taxes.
Then what happens when the expenses go up? If the taxes are pre-paid, and they cost of our city’s infrastructure goes up to support these new units, who will pick up the slack? The existing residents? The seniors? The lower earning hard working people?
And why are we taking in less tax this way?? Shouldn’t we want MORE taxes from big corporations to come in and develop? If pilot programs reduce the tax burden of big business by 40%, who then, make up for that loss? Us?
And are you sure the state and county don’t get any tax? That doesn’t seem right. If the state and county could get more taxes out of its people, you know they would do it. Won’t they come after that tax bill in some other way?
It doesn’t sound like pilot programs are so good for us. Why do we have them, then. Something about pilot programs smells worse than the sewers here.
Boys and Girls, let’s do some homework and find out exactly the positive and negative aspects of PILOT and how they affect Hoboken —
Nothing like rumors, opinions and inuendos to be mistaken for facts…it seems that facts are boring to most people…
Pilot payments are supposed to be used as incentives for developers to buy and build in “blighted areas” as determined by a redevelopment plan adopted by the city council and mayor. Redevelopment law
allows cities to change land use and take ownership from small owners and aggregate
their land to attract builders.
It is very unclear to me how Hoboken can
argue that anything in town is blighted
now, or requires such measures to develop. The natural market seems up to the task, especially since there is
virtually no buildable land left.
Pilots do pay the town a whole payment , diverting the school system and county money to the town for the duration of the abatement (usually 20 years). Land may be sold with the
abatement. THe latter is another
strange practice here. The city approves an abatement on the basis of
a specific project, designed to meet
public needs. Instead, the developer
sells the land WITH the abatement, and the project may or may not be completed . In other words these abatements are
themselves commodities that enhance the price of any god forsaken piece of land. Abatements are granted around campaign contributions, naturally.
You can look them up on the state
election web site. And indeed, existing
residents make up the taxes needed to run the schools and the county. Have you ever noticed how dirty and messed up Paterson Plank Road and the cliffs
are behind the city? Well that is maintained by the county. Occasionally the county brings over convicts from the prison to
pick up trash and plastic bags hanging in the trees. You get what you pay for… Want to stay here and raise kids? Builders you may have noticed do not build here for families. They are proud of this, and frequently mention it at presentations. (no school expense) The result is that we have a very segregated school system with a HUGE achievement gap, and the gangs to go with it. Mary