Verona Council Approves Hilltop Bond Ordinance

After three hours of discussion, and occasional contentious arguing, the Verona Township Council Monday night ultimately approved the appropriation of more than $5 million in bonding for the redevelopment of Hilltop Park by a 4-1 vote.

The Verona Hilltop project, which includes designs for a baseball field, multipurpose fields and walking tracks, has taken five years to design and has been on the table for even longer.

Councilman Kevin Ryan was the lone holdout against the application while Mayor Frank Sapienza, Deputy Mayor Bob Manley and Councilman Jay Sniatkowski and Councilman Michael Nochimson voted in favor of the ordinance.

“I'd like to see the ordinance redrawn and reintroduced,” said Ryan. “I'm not opposed to the fields. I'm concerned that our tax rate is steadily climbing, our ratables are going down and our property values are low. Debt is debt, this money still has to be paid back.”

Nochimson ultimately voted in favor, but took some convincing along the way, and only voted to allow the project to go forward under certain conditions.

“I'm willing to vote positively if (the council) can agree on some points,” he said. “It's important to involve the community in this project and the sports programs to control the process. I would like to see an oversight committee and to make sure we have some fiscal controls to try and keep the project at $4.5 million instead of $5 million.”

Sapienza agreed, saying from now on, the heads of all athletic leagues will be involved in the recreation committee.

He also explained the council needs to appropriate $5 million, which includes a 10 percent contingency amount that is reserved for any problems or snags the project runs into.

“It does not mean that the money will be spent or borrowed if it is not needed,” Township Manager Joseph Martin clarified. “Contingency amount is in case any surprises come up.”

Sapienza said if the project does not hit any snags, it very well could come in at around $4.6 million. The council also has to vote to accept or reject an amount once the project goes out to bid, he said.

The council voted to appropriate $5,125,000 for the project, which will be funded through Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) money, a revenue source that can be used as determined by the governing body, said Martin.

When residents pay their property taxes, about 55 percent goes to the board of education, 20 percent goes to Essex County and 25 percent goes to the municipality. Under PILOT, 95 percent of the proceeds go to the municipality with just 5 percent going to the county, said Martin.

The project will be paid for two or three years with bond anticipation notes at less than one percent interest, said Martin. After the two or three years, it will be converted to long-term debt for 20 years, he said.

“Why not go to long-term debt for the entire amount right now,” Martin said. “The reason is we do not fully know what that amount will be and short-term debt produces more flexibility.”

The project will take 18 months once the shovels hit the ground, he added.