MARLBORO — Mayor Jonathan Hornik maintains that the Township Council’s agreement with the developer of an approved apartment complex has terms that are favorable to Marlboro.
Hornik, a Democrat, is running for reelection to a second four-year term in the November general election.
His opponent, Republican Craig Marshall, raised the issue at a recent council meeting.
Plans call for Camelot at Marlboro to be developed at the corner of Route 79 and Beacon Hill Road. The council has entered into a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement with the developer, Kaplan Companies.
Hornik said the site is an 18.2-acre parcel. It is designated as a contaminated brownfields site that will be cleaned by the developer at an estimated cost of $5 million prior to the construction of the 250 apartments.
According to the mayor, the property owner currently pays annual taxes of about $94,000, of which $15,000 is retained by the municipality for use in the municipal budget.
The remainder of the property taxes goes to other taxing entities, including the Marlboro K-8 School District, the Freehold Regional High School District and Monmouth County.
Using power granted to municipalities under the Redevelopment Act, the council set in place a PILOT agreement with terms that are very favorable to Marlboro, Hornik said.
In addition, a reduction in the size and scope of the proposed development from only housing to a mix of commercial space, residential apartments and designated open space was reached, according to the mayor.
With the mixed uses included in the development, there was an approximate 40 percent reduction in the number of apartments that were initially planned for the site, Hornik said.
In addition to the commercial ratables that are expected to be developed at the Route 79 site, the PILOT program will allow the municipality to retain 95 percent of the payments made — as opposed to 15 percent of property taxes that would be paid — resulting in a significant increase in revenue to the township, the mayor said.
Key parts of the PILOT agreement include increasing the tax basis of the property by 472 percent, the mayor said.
The developer will spend more than $5 million to remediate the contaminated property. This cleanup and the proposed redevelopment is projected to increase the value of the property by 472 percent — from $4.7 million to an estimated $27 million, Hornik said .
The agreement will result in an increase in revenue collected from the property by 327 percent. The total taxes paid on the property amount to $94,000. Under the PILOT program, an annual revenue stream to the township in excess of $400,000 is projected, according to the mayor.
Hornik said the benefits of the PILOT program include additional revenue for the township, the remediation of a contaminated property and the ability to keep this specific development, Camelot at Marlboro, from being built on pristine farmland.