Dear Editor:
Parsippany local municipal property taxes increased 18% in two years under Mayor Barberio and this Town Council. Now that same Town Council working with a developer passed Resolution R2023-134 declaring properties at 2 and 3 Campus Drive as “areas of redevelopment” overriding a prior Planning Board approved application for development and Resolution R2023-130 to explore “the need to declare” the property at 7 Campus Drive as an “area of redevelopment.” These properties seemed poised to enter into another PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) agreement, after the November election.
Under New Jersey law “…municipalities are authorized to grant developers exemptions from traditional property taxes for a set period of time to encourage them to make improvements to property, or to locate a project in a distressed or “blighted” area.” So, an Area of Development means a distressed or blighted area. Does anyone seriously consider Campus Drive as blighted? These resolutions are a transparent scheme to replace a previously approved project with a more Developer-friendly PILOT project.
What is the effect of a PILOT on you? Essentially, taxpayers help Developers increase their profits by paying a share of the Developer’s property taxes. By entering into a PILOT, a Developer reduces its property taxes on average by 60%. So, for example, if a Developer would pay $1,000,000 annually in taxes, under the PILOT it pays only $400,000/year directly to the municipality’s operating budget and nothing to the school budget. The unpaid $600,000 that would fund our Schools, Library, and other town entities to support increased services needed for new residents in PILOT developments is paid by YOU, the taxpayer, in the form of higher school taxes.
2 and 3 Campus Drive and 1515 Stanberry (PILOT already approved by the town council) may potentially add up to more than 1,200 new residents putting a strain on our already stressed school and community services.
Pilots are:
- Good for the Developer.
- Bad for the schools.
- Worse for the taxpayer.
There is development in Parsippany’s future. How that’s addressed is consequential for the township’s well-being. Residents need to ask themselves if our elected officials, or the candidates these same elected officials support, can be trusted with future development that best serves the residents’ interest and not, specific Developers. If the past is a preview, it’s unlikely.
Change the officials.
Change the outcome.
Parsippany’s future depends on it.
Ken Dolsky
