Town to receive taxes owed

HOWELL - At its Sept. 12 meeting the Township Council approved a resolution regarding a litigation settlement involving the site of the former Frequency Engineer-ing Laboratories, Squankum Road, which will result in the payment of back taxes to the township.

The council's vote was 4-0 in favor of the settlement. Councilwoman Cynthia Scho-maker was absent.

The polluted site has been purchased by Joel Hoffman and will be cleaned of contaminated soil to "return the property to economic viability," according to Township Attorney Thomas Gannon.

"It's been an eyesore for a lot of years," Deputy Mayor Peter Tobasco said.

As part of the negotiated sale, the township will receive $1.1 million in back property taxes. Hoffman originally purchased the property in February for $1 million, but Alex Kress, a bankruptcy attorney retained by Howell, was able to raise the price to $1.56 million.

Hoffman was the only bidder for the 216-acre light industrial property.

"As always, we would have liked to have received more," Kress said.

In addition to cleaning the site, Hoff-man will pay $30,000 in taxes for 2006 and 2007, based on the property's $12 million assessment.

Kress said the sale is a "very positive resolution, with taxes unpaid since late 1999," as the former owner WDH, Howell, LLC has been bankrupt since 2001.

The agreement will see the property subdivided in order to bring separate areas of the tract on line one at a time. This move will allow the subdivided parcels to be placed on the tax rolls more quickly, Kress said.

Councilman Juan Malave said, "I think it's something that's a good settlement for township. [It's] not all the tax money, but there was no guarantee that we would receive all of the money owed to us. What this does, it finally settles it."

Mayor Joseph DiBella said the Frequency Engineering Laboratories property will not become a residential development.