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Downtown developer Sackman Enterprises has paid the outstanding balance owed in payments in lieu of taxes on the 550 Cookman Ave. complex and is in the process of working out the details for payments on the Steinbach’s building.

According to city tax collector Jesse Faasen, the approximate $75,000 in payments owed on the 550 Cookman Ave. apartment complex have been caught up on, and Sackman is will pay the remaining  just under $600,000 owed on the Steinbach’s building once a certificate of completion is issued on the site.

Under the agreement for the 550 Cookman Ave. complex, payments in lieu of taxes begin after a certificate of occupancy [CO] is issued, the agreement states. Sackman has since caught up in payments from the date the CO was issued on the apartment complex, Faasen said.

For the PILOT agreement on the Steinbach’s building, conventional taxes are always payable on the land and payments on the improvements begin once a certificate of completion is received, according to Jennifer L. Credidio, an attorney who works with city redevelopment attorney Glen Scotland.

The certificate of completion is an official document issued by the city that signifies the property is complete and no longer in need of redevelopment, according to Donald Sammet, director of planning and redevelopment for the city. Once the project is complete, that applicant is supposed to apply for the certificate, he said.

“The technicality, in this case, is because the city is still working through the parking piece, it didn’t trigger the certificate of completion,” according to former City Manager Terence Reidy.

Sackman had planned to construct a parking garage on the surface lot between Bangs and Mattison avenues in the block bound by Emory and Bond streets but is not required to, as the parking requirements for the Steinbach’s building are being satisfied on the surface lot which Sackman already owns, Sammet said.

It was believed the city could not issue a certificate of completion until the garage was built; the matter is currently under attorney review, Sammet said.

“We have to be sure that every element is approved and all conditions are being complied with,” Sammet said.

During the Jan. 29 Asbury Park City Council meeting the city’s failure to recoup the PILOT payments, as well as other funds owed to the city, was brought up by Councilman John Moor who alleged past administration “did a horrible job” of collecting the payments.

Reidy takes full responsibility for the city’s failure to recoup the payments in lieu of taxes from Sackman, but said members of his administration were well on their way to working the problem out before his term of service ended with the city in November, he said.

According to Reidy, city tax assessor Erick Aguiar uncovered the error while researching the city’s various PILOT agreements and informed Reidy of the city’s failure to collect the payments in the months before his term as city manager ended. The matter was on its way to being solved when Moor brought it up at the council meeting, he said.

“We’re lucky to have bright, young people like Erick working for the city always looking to improve our operations,” he said.

“I think the important lesson to be learned here is that there is nothing to hide,” Reidy said. “Anytime there is a breakdown, there is a lesson to be learned. There needs to be one person that is the PILOT czar – wherever they are, in finance or taxation, one person that really tracks this type of stuff.”

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