State Won't Hear Eagle Point Settlement Bond Proposal This Month

The state Local Finance Board (LFB) has declined to hear West Deptford's bond application this month that would fund two settlements totaling $32.4 million over property tax disputes at the .

After the bond proposals were left off both the regular and supplemental agendas for the board's meeting Wednesday, Mayor Ray Chintall confirmed there's still work to be done.

"The LFB staff needs further answers before they can support a recommendation to the board," Chintall said in an email.

In order to get that recommendation, Chintall said a meeting is planned for early next week to discuss the application with the LFB.

The would draw to a close disputes with two different companies over more than two decades of property taxes at the former refinery. The deal with Sunoco, which covers eight years, actually represents a reduction from the original agreement, down to $13.9 million, while the Coastal/El Paso portion totals $18.5 million, and covers 16 years of appeals.

The deals were approved at the township committee three weeks ago, in a 3-2, party-line vote. The Republicans have argued settling with the oil companies is the "prudent" way to go, especially given a June 4 tax court date looming without a settlement in place.

Settling would avoid a worst-case scenario, committeeman Sam Cianfarini said, and limit the hit to homeowners in the form of property tax increases, which he said would be limited to less than $100 per year, assuming a 1-percent increase in property values over the course of the bond funding the tax refunds.

Otherwise, Cianfarini said, scenarios project the township’s tax liability up to $90 million.

Democrats Denice DiCarlo and Donna Szymborski have raised concerns about the settlements, however, questioning whether it's the best deal possible.

At the April 17 meeting that saw the township committee OK the settlements, DiCarlo raised long-term concerns both over the agreed value of the property set by the settlement—$100 million for the entire 1,180-acre complex, versus the $153.5 million assessment by the county—as well as the distribution of value over the property, which is split across about a dozen lots, plus the 225-megawatt cogeneration plant.

“I have yet to see one valuation opinion,” she said at that meeting.

The $100 million assessment would be locked in through the end of 2013, but would revert to normal assessment after that, potentially opening up the property to more appeals a little more than a year and a half from now—coincidentally, .

And since that meeting, , though Sunoco officials said that merger shouldn't affect the settlement agreement.

Though clearing the LFB will remove one major hurdle from the deals, they wouldn't be complete at that point. There will have to be another vote at the township committee level on the bonds, and the second reading of the bond ordinance to fund the $32.4 million will need to pass by a supermajority of the board—meaning at least one of the two Democrats who opposed the settlements will have to switch to a yes vote.