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An Asbury Park official brought to light several issues of monies owed to the city at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, one of which is approximately $700,000 owed by a downtown redeveloper for payment in lieu of taxes.

The past administration “did a horrible job” of collecting payments, according to Councilman John Moor.

Moor said downtown developer Sackman Enterprises owes “well over $600,000” to the city under a payment in lieu of taxes [PILOT] agreement on the Steinbach’s building that is five years past due and at least another $100,000 in PILOT payments on the 550 Cookman Ave. building, which is overdue about a year and a half.

Carter Sackman, president of Sackman Enterprises, said the city never billed them for the payments which were set up to be paid through automated accounts. Under the PILOT programs, the accounts are certified and the city sends the bills directly to the bank holding the accounts for payment, he said.

“I think the city neglected doing their paperwork is the issue — we only just received the bill,” Sackman said.

After the city’s auditor David Kaplan made Sackman aware of the city’s failure to send a bill, Sackman checked the escrow account and realized no money was ever taken out of it, he said.

Under the PILOT arrangements, Sackman pays an amount based on the value of the land while buildings undergo renovation and construction. Once a building is complete, the city issues a certificate of completion and subsequent payments are based on rental revenues.

However, the city never issued a certificate of completion when the Steinbach’s building was fully renovated, Sackman said.

Additionally, the city only issued a certificate of occupancy for the 550 Cookman Ave. complex, and not a certificate of completion, according to Kaplan. Sackman has agreed to pay the backpayments on the 550 Cookman building from the date the city issued a certificate of occupancy, and the developer is now working with the city to establish a start date for payments on the Steinbach’s building, said Kaplan.

Kaplan confirmed the failure to bill for the PILOT payments is due to the city’s not providing certificates of completion, which the the tax assessor’s office, tax collector’s office and city manager are normally responsible for.

[Kaplan contacted the Sun later Friday to say that it is not the responsibility of the tax assessor’s office or the tax collector’s office to issue the certificates and that city has never issued a certificate of completion in its history. Kaplan asserts his statements were taken out of context when the article was written. The Sun, however, stands by its original reporting.]

Changes in personnel in the tax assessor’s office, tax collector’s office, the finance office and the lack of an assistant city manager contributed to the breakdown on the city’s side, he said.

“It’s all going to get worked out,” said Sackman. “Obviously I’m not going to run from my taxes and I’m sure the city wants to get paid.”

OTHER ISSUES

The city is also owed between $50,000 and $100,000 for special events fees that have not yet been collected, according to Moor.

About $1.25 million is also owed to the city for unpaid court fines, Moor said. Kaplan recommended the city hire a collection firm so they could begin to recoup those funds in his annual audit. The city council voted unanimously in the previous month to seek bids from collection agencies but are awaiting a final draft request to begin the bid process.

Since being sworn in on July 1, Moor, Councilwoman Amy Quinn and Mayor Myra Campbell have also made several inquiries into selling the Park Avenue Firehouse to gain further revenue, but have yet to see any movement made on it, Moor said.

Moor also said it has been 44 days since the council voted to hire a parking consultant, but they haven’t received any updates on the process so far.

“When we finally get [a request for proposals] we will have to get the bids … pass ordinances, resolutions — it’ll be another year wasted because we are going way too slow,” he said.

“I have no clue why issues like this take so long in Asbury Park,” said Moor. “I am so fed up with it.”

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