Category Archives: City Council

City Council

City’s assessed value up $25 million

Leave a comment

The city’s assessed value rose by $25.3 million this year, up about 1.67 percent to $1.546 billion. That translates into roughly $1.2 million in property tax revenue. The bulk of the increase came from Carriage City Plaza Properties (CCP), assessed at around $19 million, and paying $978,000 in property taxes.

[12/12 update: Got an email from a rep at Silcon saying the Carriage City Plaza project is responsible for the entire additional $1.2 million in property tax revenue; $978,000 from Carriage City Properties + property taxes paid by individual unit owners. Trying to get some clarification from the city tax office, probably come Monday].

[12/15 CLARIFICATION: According to the city tax office, Carriage City Properties and the individual condo units — both sold and unsold — were assessed at a combined $24,146,600 ($5,414,500 for sold units + $18,732,100 for CCP portions and unsold units) and paid property taxes of approximately $1,182,941.94 ($265,256.36 sold units + $917,685.58 CCP and unsold units.]

During a discussion on the municipal budget at last month’s City Council meeting, and a question about potential future revenues, City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier told the council two significant projects should provide future revenue. The city tax assessor is in the process of adding the assessment for Park Square, which begins its Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) this year, he said, and Renaissance at Rahway, which is scheduled to be completed in about 12 months.

City taxes are expected to remain about the same thanks in part to $1.6 million in sewer utility surplus plugged in as revenue. The $41.3-million municipal budget is up about 4.5 percent, with the amount raised from taxes up 3.5 percent, to $29.7 million. The average assessed home ($133,000) paid about $2,276 in municipal property taxes last year, and Chief Financial Officer Frank Ruggiero expects roughly the same amount next year. He described a recent nj.com story about the budget wildly inaccurate and residents can expect tax bills for the first two quarters to be similar to the last two quarters.

A public hearing and final approval on the budget is scheduled for Monday during the City Council’s regular meeting.

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();

City Council

Council hires arts consultant

Leave a comment

City Council approved a one-year, $18,600 contract for a consultant to serve as a liaison with the Arts District Advisory Board. The contract was approved during a special meeting June 30.

Elizabeth-based Coen Consulting Group, headed up by former county director of heritage affairs Susan Coen, will serve as a liaison between the Rahway Arts District Board and City Council, helping to raise money, secure grants and coordinate activities between local arts organizations, according to City Administrator Peter Pelissier.

The Arts District Advisory Board has been considering designs for the Hamilton Street amphitheater project, which is expected to begin construction late this year.

Also at the June 30 meeting, City Council approved increases of 5 percent and 8 percent in water and sewer rates, respectively.

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();

Arts District, City Council, Downtown, Traffic

Summer work: Irving-Central signalization

Leave a comment

Work is expected to begin next month to reconfigure the intersection of Central Avenue and Hamilton, Irving and West Main streets.

The project will add a traffic signal to the intersection to coordinate traffic coming from five different directions and address the no-left turn from West Main to Irving streets, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.

Work also will include creating a triangular traffic island between Hamilton and Central and widening Irving opposite the Union County Arts Center.

City Council on Wednesday night approved a $224,000 contract with Piscataway-based Fai-Gon Electric for signalization.

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();

City Council

Meters to return along Irving and Main

Leave a comment

Parking meters will return to the downtown area this summer.

Two-hour metered parking will stretch from East Milton to Central Avenue along Main Street while one-hour metered parking will be on Irving Street. The cost will be 50 cents an hour, purchased in half-hour intervals.

Some will replace meters that were taken out when the change to two-way traffic downtown was made last summer and some will replace meters taken off the streets about 15 years ago. Approval has been received from the County of Union and the Rahway Police Department’s Traffic Bureau to replace them, Parking Authority Executive Director Donald Andersen told the City Council last week.

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();

City Council, Rahway

Essex Street park to open next month

Leave a comment

The park under construction along Essex Street is expected to open next month, according to this report in Sunday’s Star-Ledger.

Construction of the park started last fall. Though there’s no mention of it in the Ledger piece, it’s expected to be named after Myron R. Ross, a Rahway native killed while serving in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();

City Council

Asbestos, tank removal for Bell Building

Leave a comment

Contracts totaling nearly $75,000 for asbestos abatement and storage tank removal at the Bell Building, along with a change-order for the removal of a storage tank at the former Hamilton Laundry site were approved by City Council earlier this month. Contracts went to AWT Environmental Services, DIA General Construction of Clifton, and Warren-based Whitestone Associates.

A banner at the Hamilton Laundry site proclaims a spring 2010 timeline for a 1,000-seat amphitheater. A black box theater and performing arts space is planned for the Bell Building while the neighboring Shami Apartment are eyed for senior/artists’ housing.

The house adjacent to the Hamilton Laundry site was acquired by the Redevelopment Agency and scheduled to close in December, but Agency attorney Frank Regan reported that the owner has been unable to vacate tenants, which was one of the conditions of closing, and may need to proceed with eviction, but not until the end of this month.

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();

Carriage City Plaza, City Council, tax appeals, taxes

Tax appeal settlement approved

Leave a comment

City Council approved a tax appeal settlement Monday night with Carriage City Properties. Details on the settlement can be found in this earlier post.

Property taxes would be paid whether units are occupied or not, and the developer would be responsible for taxes on any units it owns, said City Administrator/Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.

During the Feb. 3 pre-meeting conference of City Council, Third Ward Councilman Jerry Scaturo raised the issue of Carriage City Properties leasing its unsold units. Sky View began marketing a lease-to-buy option, starting at $1,250 a month for one-bedroom units.

Pelissier said it’s not a concern from the standpoint of wanting to see people moving into the community. “It’s better than having…units sitting empty,” he said. If the units are occupied, the $10,000 fee owed to the Redevelopment Agency should be paid, said Pelissier, adding that the agency is seeking is a formal request from the developer to clarify the redevelopment agreement. Originally the developer, Elizabeth-based Silcon Group., was to pay the $10,000 fee upon closing of each unit.

About 57 units have closed at Sky View, according to the Parking Authority records, while the Redevelopment Agency has been paid for 46 units and 78 temporary certificates of occupancy (TCO) have been issued by the city, Pelissier said. It’s unclear how many units are rented, he said. The 16-story complex has more than 200 units in all.
By my count, about 48 units have sold (less than a quarter) at an average of almost $292,000, a high of $444,000 and a low of $216,350 (which happens to be the most recent sale I’m aware of).

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();

City Council, tax appeals, taxes

Settlement near on tax appeal

Leave a comment

Carriage City Plaza will pay almost $1 million annually in property taxes under a tax appeal settlement reached with the city.

The settlement, which is expected to gain City Council approval Monday night, calls for Carriage City to pay $350,000 in taxes for its partial assessment for 2008. In addition, it will pay $100,000 toward the approximately $350,000 that’s owed to the city as part of intersection improvements and signalization, among other things.

Starting with 2009, property taxes for the site will be about $978,000 at full assessment, City Administrator/Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier after Tuesday night’s conference council meeting. The total assessment for the property is about $59 million, with $2 million for the retail space, $6 million for the hotel and the remainder for the 220 residential units. By comparison, Pelissier said, Merck & Co.’s property is assessed at about $277 million.

The reduced assessments primarily came in the residential components of the project, Pelissier said, adding that once the retail portions are fully developed, those parts will see increased assessments. The original assessment was about $60 million, which would have generated $1.2 million in property tax revenue.

_uacct = “UA-2976232-1”;
urchinTracker();