City Council introduced the 2022 municipal budget last month, with a public hearing and vote scheduled during a special meeting on July 28. The complete budget document can be accessed here, with PILOT revenue detailed on Page 22 / Sheet 10. Here’s a breakdown of PILOTs via Excel.

PILOTs for developments are usually based on 10 percent of annual gross revenue of a building, as stipulated in the PILOT agreement negotiated and then approved by City Council. The city receives 95% of the payment, with 5% going to Union County.

The $2.552 million in anticipated revenue is $756,000, or 42 percent, more than the $1.796 million that was anticipated in the 2021 budget, when more than $2 million was realized, a difference of about 15 percent. It would be the most PILOT revenue in the city budget since 2016, when almost $2.3 million was collected. That year, almost $600,000 came in the final year of Park Square’s five-year PILOT and another $170,000 that was still attributed to the Parking Authority for River Place on Lewis Street.

Much of the PILOT revenue increase can be attributed to a big boost from Reva Rahway, which paid almost three times more than expected in 2021. The municipal budget for 2021 anticipated $157,000 in from the 219-unit complex on Main Street but instead realized $439,622 – a difference of $282,622, or 180 percent. The payment is higher than the $383,250 originally stipulated in the PILOT agreement.

The municipal budget also anticipates the first payments from The Mint in 2022. The 116-unit first phase of the project on Monroe Street opened in early 2020 and is slated to bring in $215,000 in PILOT revenue.  It’s expected to reach at least $360,000 annually, according to the PILOT agreement. The second, 108-unit phase is under construction on the other side of Monroe Street at the corner of Poplar Street.

The budget does not yet anticipate PILOT revenue in 2022 for The Gramercy on East Cherry Street, though it’s unclear why because it was completed in 2018, or the first phase of Meridia Brownstones on Elizabeth Avenue.

There are 12 PILOTs listed in the 2022 municipal budget, with all but one coming from various developments, old and new. Listed in the PILOT revenue section of the budget this year is an anticipated $270,000 from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital-Rahway. The annual payment is consistent with state law for real estate tax based on its number of licensed beds (251), according to a statement from RWJUH-Rahway.

New Jersey restored the property tax exemption for nonprofit hospitals early last year but also required nonprofit facilities to make a contribution to municipalities where they operate of $3 per day for each licensed hospital bed ($3 x 365 x 251 beds = $274,845). The issue of nonprofit hospitals contributing locally has been raised throughout the country over the years. Without the RWJU Hospital’s new contribution, PILOT revenue still would be almost 11 percent higher than in 2020.