Attorney hired to handle bridge issues
By John Tredrea, Special Writer
A settlement agreement of a tax dispute with Capital Health System was approved by the Hopewell Township Committee on Monday night.
Capital Health is building a new hospital, due to open later this year, in the southern section of the township near I-95 and Scotch Road.
The committee’s vote authorizes submission of the settlement agreement to the state tax court.
Township officials say — now that an agreement with the hospital has been reached — the township will collect $4 million in taxes from Capital once the settlement has cleared the court.
The $4 million amount was calculated from the value of the hospital building while under construction for the past three years.
Those values are $14,774,000 in 2009, $63,220,000 in 2010 and $107,162,000 this year. Once the hospital is operating, it will be tax-exempt under state law, because it will be a nonprofit entity.
However, a 300,000-square-foot office building adjacent to the hospital will continue to be taxed after that building is opened along with the hospital, officials said.
The settlement ends a tax dispute that lasted about two years.
ALSO at Monday night’s meeting, the committee voted to hire Willingboro-based attorney William John Kearns to represent the township on matters pertaining to the Jacobs Creek bridge. He can be paid a maximum of $3,500 for those services under a contract approved by the committee.
Asked why officials had decided to hire Mr. Kearns, Mayor Jim Burd said Wednesday, “If we need any legal counsel on the Jacobs Creek bridge, this is the attorney that will be at our disposal.”
The mayor said no decision has been made yet for such use.
Mercer County closed Jacobs Creek bridge, in the western section of the township, in September 2009, citing safety concerns.
Several months ago, the county freeholders voted to spend more than $700,000 on a replacement bridge.
That county plan has been vigorously opposed by township residents, who say it will unacceptably affect the “Victory Trail” George Washington and the Continental Army followed on the way to the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War.
In a companion measure, the committee voted to reduce, by the same $3,500 it will pay Mr. Kearns, the annual salary of Township Attorney Steve Goodell. That brings his annual salary to $115,000. Mr. Goodell said he cannot represent the township on the bridge due to a conflict of interest.
Deputy Mayor Michael Markulec and other committee members praised township Chief Financial Officer Elaine Cruikshank Borges for her job performance after noting no corrective recommendations were made in the latest independent annual audit of the township’s finances.
Under state law, every municipality in New Jersey must be audited annually by a firm independent of that municipality. Many of those audits make recommendations for corrective action.
Garnering an audit that makes no such recommendations is “a great accomplishment,” Mr. Markulec said.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, the committee voted to adopt a $109,000 bond ordinance that will fund repairs to municipal buildings, including mold remediation, elevator repairs, window replacement, roof repairs, improved accessibility for the handicapped and other work.