Power Plant PILOT Program on Council Agenda

The new 663-megawatt power plant, set for construction in the brownfields of the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, may be slated to be the recipient of a PILOT deal from the township.

The Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) arrangement with Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) is on the agenda for Tuesday night's council meeting. The ordinance, which will be before the governing body, will amend the "KPR 96 Redevelopment Plan."

The name of the program refers to the Keasbey-Port Reading Redevelopment Plan, which includes the area where the massive electric generation plant, and is set to be built. 

In PILOT programs created by state statute, businesses are encouraged to move into blighted areas in exchange for a tax break over a period of years. Instead of paying separate municipal, county, and Board of Education property taxes, companies granted PILOT program tax abatements pay a lump sum directly to the municipality, which may or may not share that money with the school board. 

Taxpayers in the rest of the municipality are still responsible for making up the difference in their property tax bills so the BOE receives the full portion of its budget. According to a report on PILOT programs written by the New Jersey Office of the Comptroller, "95 percent of the negotiated PILOT is kept by the municipality, 5 percent for the county, and nothing for the school district."

That, the report said, causes "inequities [from] shifting tax burdens."

The council agenda did not say the amount of the PILOT program, or how long the term of the tax abatement for Competitive Power Ventures would be.

The CPV power plant in Keasbey will be the second in the state to receive subsidies from New Jersey taxpayers, who will pay in higher electric rates. The Newark power plant will receive $40 million a year in subsidies, according to Jeff Tittel of the NJ Sierra Club.

The Woodbridge plant, Tittel said, "will receive even higher guaranteed sales and subsidies, about $68-95 million a year."

The council meeting where the PILOT program will be discussed will be held at Woodbridge Town Hall at 7:30 pm.

Follow Woodbridge Patch on Facebook, Twitter and sign up for the daily newsletter.