Almost five years after City Council initially approved expanding the downtown Special Improvement District (SID) citywide — sparking a lawsuit by business owners — the governing body is poised to approve the first expanded SID budget.

A public hearing and final adoption of the 2019 SID budget (AR-163-19) is scheduled during City Council’s combined pre-conference and regular meeting on Tuesday, starting at 7 p.m. UPDATED: The SID budget unanimously was approved by City Council, 7-0, with two members absent.

City Council approved legislation in December 2014 to expand the SID and a month later a group of Rahway business owners,Friends of Rahway Business, LLC, filed a lawsuit. A Superior Court judge ruled in 2015 against the expanded SID but two years ago an appeals court struck down that decision. A judge has since denied a motion to enforce a settlement (More on that in a future post).

The SID budget typically generates about $130,000 through an annual special assessment on 138 downtown properties but expanding the SID citywide would raise some $750,000, with a special assessment on commercial, retail and industrial properties. The SID funds the Rahway Arts and Business Partnership (RABP). Here’s some more background on how the original 138 downtown SID properties and the other 394 properties that will be included within the expanded SID could be impacted (based on 2015 tax information at the time).

The expanded SID was not collected from 2016 to 2019 but will resume collection in 2020, according to acting City Administrator Robert Landolfi. The tax assessor will include the new footprint of the expanded district as of Oct. 1, 2019, effective on Jan 1, 2020.

The proposed budget for 2019 is similar to the 2018 budget that was approved but with an additional $610,000 in spending that dates back to the first year that the expanded SID assessment was collected before the lawsuit put that on hold.

Almost half of the additional expenses — about $300,000 — are slated for “aesthetic improvements,” namely the three downtown train trestles. The cost is to prepare both engineering and aesthetic plans, Landolfi said, with a plan to negotiate an agreement with Amtrak to beautify the trestles. It will require some engineering, likely the biggest part, and some legal work, he said.

Another $100,000 is earmarked for “parking inventory,” with a plan to add parking downtown. Several lots opposite City Hall on August Street, between East Milton Avenue and Lewis Street, will be merged and improved into a single lot, creating about 35 to 40 spaces for public use in conjunction with the property’s owner, which includes Joel Schwartz, chairman of the RABP. Asked whether that pose a conflict of interest, Landolfi said only to the extent that Schwartz not participate in the discussion or vote. “There’s no inherent conflict for him being on the board, but he should not participate in the vote,” Landolfi said.

Another $100,000 classified as “Comcast services” will fund the production of three, 30-second advertisements and other digital assets for about $11,700 and one year of media buys at $88,300. The three ads were recently filmed downtown and will air throughout the county and region to attract consumers from beyond the city, according to Joe Brown, the city’s director of communications.

“Directional signage,” listed as $20,000 is more than way-finding but a more comprehensive plan than just directing people to the Police Department or City Hall, according to Landolfi. It will be a phased project that first probably will coincide with parking projects downtown, he said, with the first component being a more defined way-finding system.