
November 17,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, once again we would like to call attention to the article in NorthJersey.com https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-towns-may-push-hospitals-to-pay-up-more-could-seek-property-tax-deals-with-non-profits-1.1453139 which speaks about the current trend in NJ to take away the non-profit status of hospitals.
In the article it states that Morristown Hospital has agreed to pay $15.5 million over the next decade to settle demands for property taxes and that Valley’s Hospital tax liability would be $4.5 million in Ridgewood if its main campus were not exempt.
The article goes on to state Mayor Aronsohn has not been able to bring this issue up because of Valley’s pending application for approval of building plans. Which seems to open the door for Valley expansion and leaves many residents are still looking for some clarification on this as I don’t understand how one issue precludes the other.
Council women Gwenn Hauck’s has articulated over and over that the potential for money is an important factor in the Village Council’s assessment of the High Density Housing issue. Clearly the Judge in Morristown has just given Ridgewood a much simpler path to a financial windfall then increased High Density Housing could.
Valley needs that tax saving so they can pay the executives their million dollar salaries…
Ridgewood needs to consider at least a users fee for services rendered such as police fire and public works. Incidental to Valley but hugely beneficial to the town.
The question really should be “Why is the Village Council not talking about the Valley lawsuit against us?”
We have massive conflicts of interest with Mr Pucciarelli and Mrs Hauck but not one word from them about defending the Village that they swore an oath to serve. Very disconcerting that neither has refused themself from any settlement or mediation negotiations.
Maybe Mr Rogers cares to inform us?
We desperately need an update. It was in mediation. Haven’t heard how that went.
A Payment in Lieu of Taxes (Pilot) is voluntary and could be stopped at any time. Why would anyone do that, now that we have Morristown decision. Morristown decision is about taxes. That is what needs to be pursued. .
Pretty sure you pay to park in the garage at the hospital in Morristown.
This Council has failed the Village on Valley – not one of them has publicly raised the issue of legally challenging Valley’s “not-for-profit” status using the gift-wrapped Morrustown precedent? Where are the Council on this? It’s $4.5 million in property taxes or 10% of the Village’s current annual municipal budget. The Mayor went so far as to imply that we cannot discuss this because of some quid pro quo related to their rejected application to expand. Wrong!
All five of our Council members have dropped the ball on this
It’s called “no guts.”
Then we need to elect five new Council members who understand their fiduciary duty to all Village taxpayers, i.e. Who have “guts” to challenge Valley’s continued abuse of their host community.
Not sure why anyone would imply a quid pro quo between Valley’s expansion plans and the paying taxes or a voluntary annual payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) for the Village services they consume… The two issues are completemy unrelated. Where are Knudsen and Sedon on this?
Entire Cojncil is AWOL on this issue