The Hoboken City Council will consider an over $500,000 allocation of payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) revenue for their four public school entities.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Pending council approval, the city will establish four trusts to allocate a portion of the funding made available through payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements with the developers of 770 House and the Hoboken Connect project to support the
city’s public education system.
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.
“As a councilman in 2016, I was proud to vote for an idea that charted a course for the City to further support its public school system, and now as Mayor I am even more proud to turn this concept into real dollars,” Mayor Ravi Bhalla said in a statement.
“I am thankful to the leadership at the Hoboken Public School District, Hoboken Charter School, HoLa, and Elysian Charter School for collaborating with my administration on this innovative funding solution. This is particularly important today to help close the gap of stagnant State Aid funding, especially when neighboring municipalities of similar sizes are realizing hundreds of millions of dollars more than Hoboken. I look forward to the Hoboken City Council’s impending adoption, so we can put the money to good use in support of our schools.”
The new School Improvements Trusts will mark the first of their kind in the state, serving as an innovative financing solution to support public schools and their need for improved facilities, the mayor’s office said.
The funding will increase each year by 2 percent over the lifetime of the PILOT agreements and can be used by each district to improve physical facilities, offset debt service, purchase equipment, make lease payments, conduct routine maintenance, and acquire
additional properties, among other necessities.
“I’m glad that the four public schools were able to collaborate with the city council and I’m looking forward to continuing the good faith efforts that everyone put forth on this for other projects for our students,” noted 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos, who is also a teacher in Paterson, said over the phone.
“This has been way too long of a process: when we started, my daughter was a senior in high school and now she’s a senior in college.”
While serving as a councilman-at-large in 2007, Ramos also sponsored a resolution approved by the governing body that said all future PILOT agreements would allocate revenue to the public schools.
2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher expressed enthusiasm about finally reaching a happy medium.
“I’m proud to join my colleagues Ramos, Doyle and Jabbour, selected by our schools and working closely with them and the mayor’s office, to successfully find a way to allocate PILOT funding; a shout out to Ruben and Jim in particular who brought this over the finish line,” she said in a statement.
“To me, the best part was seeing our charter and district schools come together, reducing longstanding tensions, and fostering a new spirit of collaboration. A true win win for our Hoboken schools and our community.”
The matter caused the three Hoboken charter schools to retain counsel in November 2020, with the city shooting down the BOE’s request for the full PILOT revenue from 770 Jackson St. the following month.
After about a year-and-a-half without any public discussion, the Hoboken charter schools approved a resolution in April 2022 opposing all PILOTs in the Mile Square City until the 770 Jackson St. situation was resolved.
“For years, the Hoboken Board of Education and Hoboken’s Public Charter Schools have worked together to advocate for a portion of the proceeds from the PILOT payments for 770 Jackson and LCOR to be shared with public schools in a fair, equitable, and unencumbered manner,” a joint statement from eight school officials issued this evening says.
“We are cautiously optimistic this landmark ordinance will serve as a vehicle to distribute these PILOT funds and future PILOT funds to our students, the children of Hoboken, for years to come.”
The statement was signed by BOE President Ailene McGuirk, BOE Vice President Sharyn Angley, Trustees Malani Cademartori and Alex De La Torrie, as well as Hoboken Charter Schools’ Lauren Calmas, Hoboken Dual Language Charter School’s (HoLa) Nicole Cammarota, Elysian Charter Schools Chris Defilippis, and HoLa’s Mark Glorenzo.
The Hoboken council is scheduled to vote on the first reading ordinance to create the four trust funds for each school district during its regular meeting on Wednesday, August 21st, at 7 p.m. at City Hall, located at 94 Washington St.
The meeting will also steam live on the city’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a joint statement from eight Hoboken school officials.
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What took so long. This should have been in place before anything was built.
Every PILOTed building in Hoboken should be paying for schools like everyone else.
Hoboken taxpayer previously in the dark as to the tax system worked were made aware when the huge, excessive overpriced plans for a Sports Complex with a High School attached was thankfully resoundingly voted down.