In April I asked the Township for every tax agreement it has signed with a developer. Here is what those documents say — the short version first, the evidence underneath it, and an honest list of what I still cannot answer.
People argue about these agreements as though there were one deal to defend or attack. The commercial ones run from eleven years to thirty, and charge from 10% of a building’s revenue to 15%.1
An ordinary tax bill is a percentage of what a property is worth. These agreements charge a percentage of what it rents for — and that percentage is fixed for the life of the deal, however valuable the building becomes.3
These agreements split the property in two. The land stays on the ordinary tax rolls, so the school district collects its usual 55 cents of every dollar on it2 — real money, and anyone who says these properties pay the schools nothing is wrong. But the building comes off the rolls entirely, and the payment that replaces it goes 95% to the Township and 5% to the county.4 The school district’s share of that is zero. On a warehouse, the building is almost all of the value.
Each agreement does eventually climb toward a full tax bill. On the Matrix warehouse it does not reach even 40% of one until year eighteen; at Hamilton, Self Storage and Meridia, not until year sixteen.1 A homeowner’s bill does not come with a fifteen-year grace period.
In 2018 Robbinsville signed Matrix 7A at 15% of revenue over eleven years. Six years earlier it had signed the same developer, in the same redevelopment area, at 10% over twenty — and the thirty-year agreements came after 2018.1 So the good terms were not the start of a standard. They were the exception.
Same building, same assessment, same rent roll — only the contract terms change. A conventional taxpayer sits at 100%. Each bar is what that agreement collects across its whole term as a share of what an ordinary tax bill would have produced over the same years.1
| Agreement | Term | In force until at least |
Share of revenue | Step-ups toward a full bill | Collected | To schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matrix 7A / KTR warehouseOrd. 2012-13, amended by Ord. 2012-20 | 20 years | at least to 2032 | 10% | 20% / 40% / 60% / 80% at years 16, 18, 19, 20 | $21.2M | $1.5M |
| Matrix 7A 500A & 500BOrd. 2013-16 and Ord. 2013-17 | 20 years | at least to 2033 | 10% | Same pattern, from year 16 | $21.2M | $1.5M |
| Matrix 7A (2018)Ord. 2018-18 | 11 years | at least to 2029 | 15% | 20% / 40% / 60% at years 8, 9, 10 | $15.6M | $846,560 |
| Hamilton DevelopmentBlock 29, Lot 1.19 | 30 years | not established | 12%, then 14%, then 16% | 20% / 40% / 60% / 80% at years 11, 16, 21, 26 | $46.3M | $2.3M |
| Robbinsville Self StorageBlock 29, Lot 2.39 | 30 years | not established | 12%, then 13%, then 14% | 20% / 40% / 60% / 80% at years 11, 16, 21, 26 | $45.2M | $2.3M |
| Meridia / CapodagliBlock 1, Lot 65.02 | 30 years | not established | 10% rising to 14% | 20% / 40% / 60% / 80% at years 11, 16, 21, 26 | $43.1M | $2.3M |
On “in force until at least”: an agreement does not begin on the day its ordinance passes. The term starts on a commencement date written into the financial agreement, usually tied to completion of the building. Those dates have been requested and not produced, so this column states only what cannot be argued with: the term cannot begin before the ordinance was adopted, so it cannot end before the year shown. Every one of these is still running today, and the true end dates are later. Three have no ordinance number in our file yet, so not even a floor can be given for them.
“Collected” includes the ordinary taxes on the land, which are never exempt, plus the service charge net of the land tax credit, plus the administrative fee where the agreement carries one. “To schools” is the district’s ordinary share of that land tax and nothing else — the building is exempt, and the charge replacing it carries no school share.
Hamilton Development and Self Storage also carry a per-square-foot floor (“Schedule A”) that can push the charge above the percentage shown. That schedule was not in the production and I have requested it, so those two rows are a floor rather than a full picture.
Ordinance 2024-26 (AIREIT), the most recent commercial agreement, was not in the April production and is not represented here.
Open any agreement for its full schedule, year by year, with the clause that sets the charge in each year. Watch for the row where the basis changes from a share of rent to a share of the tax bill — that is the step-up, and on most of these it arrives very late.
The one agreement whose Fiscal Plan the Township produced.
Ordinance adopted 2012; the term cannot begin before that, so this agreement runs at least until 2032 and is still in force today.
| Year | Rent roll | Charge set by | Service charge | To Township | To County | To schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7,935,479 | 10% of rent | 793,548 | 663,277 | 69,181 | 76,960 |
| 2 | 8,062,447 | 10% of rent | 806,245 | 675,593 | 69,816 | 76,960 |
| 3 | 8,191,446 | 10% of rent | 819,145 | 688,106 | 70,461 | 76,960 |
| 4 | 8,322,509 | 10% of rent | 832,251 | 700,819 | 71,117 | 76,960 |
| 5 | 8,455,669 | 10% of rent | 845,567 | 713,736 | 71,782 | 76,960 |
| 6 | 8,590,960 | 10% of rent | 859,096 | 726,859 | 72,459 | 76,960 |
| 7 | 8,728,415 | 10% of rent | 872,842 | 740,192 | 73,146 | 76,960 |
| 8 | 8,868,070 | 10% of rent | 886,807 | 753,739 | 73,844 | 76,960 |
| 9 | 9,009,959 | 10% of rent | 900,996 | 767,502 | 74,554 | 76,960 |
| 10 | 9,154,118 | 10% of rent | 915,412 | 781,485 | 75,275 | 76,960 |
| 11 | 9,300,584 | 10% of rent | 930,058 | 795,693 | 76,007 | 76,960 |
| 12 | 9,449,393 | 10% of rent | 944,939 | 810,127 | 76,751 | 76,960 |
| 13 | 9,600,584 | 10% of rent | 960,058 | 824,793 | 77,507 | 76,960 |
| 14 | 9,754,193 | 10% of rent | 975,419 | 839,693 | 78,275 | 76,960 |
| 15 | 9,910,260 | 10% of rent | 991,026 | 854,831 | 79,055 | 76,960 |
| 16 | 10,068,824 | 10% of rent | 1,006,882 | 870,212 | 79,848 | 76,960 |
| 17 | 10,229,926 | 10% of rent | 1,022,993 | 885,839 | 80,654 | 76,960 |
| 18 | 10,393,604 | 40% of the tax bill | 1,204,494 | 1,061,895 | 89,729 | 76,960 |
| 19 | 10,559,902 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 20 | 10,728,860 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| All 20 | 20,783,508 | 18,030,723 | 1,629,255 | 1,539,200 |
The Township and County columns include their ordinary share of the tax on the land, which is never exempt. The schools column is their share of that land tax — the building is exempt, and the service charge replacing it carries no statutory school share.
Same structure as the 2012 agreement.
Ordinance adopted 2013; the term cannot begin before that, so this agreement runs at least until 2033 and is still in force today.
| Year | Rent roll | Charge set by | Service charge | To Township | To County | To schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7,935,479 | 10% of rent | 793,548 | 663,277 | 69,181 | 76,960 |
| 2 | 8,062,447 | 10% of rent | 806,245 | 675,593 | 69,816 | 76,960 |
| 3 | 8,191,446 | 10% of rent | 819,145 | 688,106 | 70,461 | 76,960 |
| 4 | 8,322,509 | 10% of rent | 832,251 | 700,819 | 71,117 | 76,960 |
| 5 | 8,455,669 | 10% of rent | 845,567 | 713,736 | 71,782 | 76,960 |
| 6 | 8,590,960 | 10% of rent | 859,096 | 726,859 | 72,459 | 76,960 |
| 7 | 8,728,415 | 10% of rent | 872,842 | 740,192 | 73,146 | 76,960 |
| 8 | 8,868,070 | 10% of rent | 886,807 | 753,739 | 73,844 | 76,960 |
| 9 | 9,009,959 | 10% of rent | 900,996 | 767,502 | 74,554 | 76,960 |
| 10 | 9,154,118 | 10% of rent | 915,412 | 781,485 | 75,275 | 76,960 |
| 11 | 9,300,584 | 10% of rent | 930,058 | 795,693 | 76,007 | 76,960 |
| 12 | 9,449,393 | 10% of rent | 944,939 | 810,127 | 76,751 | 76,960 |
| 13 | 9,600,584 | 10% of rent | 960,058 | 824,793 | 77,507 | 76,960 |
| 14 | 9,754,193 | 10% of rent | 975,419 | 839,693 | 78,275 | 76,960 |
| 15 | 9,910,260 | 10% of rent | 991,026 | 854,831 | 79,055 | 76,960 |
| 16 | 10,068,824 | 10% of rent | 1,006,882 | 870,212 | 79,848 | 76,960 |
| 17 | 10,229,926 | 10% of rent | 1,022,993 | 885,839 | 80,654 | 76,960 |
| 18 | 10,393,604 | 40% of the tax bill | 1,204,494 | 1,061,895 | 89,729 | 76,960 |
| 19 | 10,559,902 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 20 | 10,728,860 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| All 20 | 20,783,508 | 18,030,723 | 1,629,255 | 1,539,200 |
The Township and County columns include their ordinary share of the tax on the land, which is never exempt. The schools column is their share of that land tax — the building is exempt, and the service charge replacing it carries no statutory school share.
Same developer, six years later, on materially better terms.
Ordinance adopted 2018; the term cannot begin before that, so this agreement runs at least until 2029 and is still in force today.
| Year | Rent roll | Charge set by | Service charge | To Township | To County | To schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7,935,479 | 15% of rent | 1,190,322 | 1,024,342 | 89,020 | 76,960 |
| 2 | 8,062,447 | 15% of rent | 1,209,367 | 1,042,435 | 89,972 | 76,960 |
| 3 | 8,191,446 | 15% of rent | 1,228,717 | 1,060,817 | 90,940 | 76,960 |
| 4 | 8,322,509 | 15% of rent | 1,248,376 | 1,079,494 | 91,923 | 76,960 |
| 5 | 8,455,669 | 15% of rent | 1,268,350 | 1,098,469 | 92,922 | 76,960 |
| 6 | 8,590,960 | 15% of rent | 1,288,644 | 1,117,748 | 93,936 | 76,960 |
| 7 | 8,728,415 | 15% of rent | 1,309,262 | 1,137,335 | 94,967 | 76,960 |
| 8 | 8,868,070 | 15% of rent | 1,330,210 | 1,157,236 | 96,015 | 76,960 |
| 9 | 9,009,959 | 15% of rent | 1,351,494 | 1,177,455 | 97,079 | 76,960 |
| 10 | 9,154,118 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,609,940 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 11 | 9,300,584 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,182,075 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| All 11 | 15,640,473 | 13,687,345 | 1,106,568 | 846,560 |
The Township and County columns include their ordinary share of the tax on the land, which is never exempt. The schools column is their share of that land tax — the building is exempt, and the service charge replacing it carries no statutory school share.
Thirty years. A per-square-foot floor also applies and has not been obtained.
Start of term not established — the ordinance number for this agreement has not been obtained.
| Year | Rent roll | Charge set by | Service charge | To Township | To County | To schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7,935,479 | 12% of rent | 952,257 | 817,226 | 77,117 | 76,960 |
| 2 | 8,062,447 | 12% of rent | 967,494 | 832,005 | 77,879 | 76,960 |
| 3 | 8,191,446 | 12% of rent | 982,973 | 847,020 | 78,653 | 76,960 |
| 4 | 8,322,509 | 12% of rent | 998,701 | 862,276 | 79,439 | 76,960 |
| 5 | 8,455,669 | 12% of rent | 1,014,680 | 877,776 | 80,238 | 76,960 |
| 6 | 8,590,960 | 12% of rent | 1,030,915 | 893,524 | 81,050 | 76,960 |
| 7 | 8,728,415 | 12% of rent | 1,047,410 | 909,524 | 81,874 | 76,960 |
| 8 | 8,868,070 | 12% of rent | 1,064,168 | 925,779 | 82,712 | 76,960 |
| 9 | 9,009,959 | 12% of rent | 1,081,195 | 942,295 | 83,564 | 76,960 |
| 10 | 9,154,118 | 12% of rent | 1,098,494 | 959,075 | 84,429 | 76,960 |
| 11 | 9,300,584 | 14% of rent | 1,302,082 | 1,156,555 | 94,608 | 76,960 |
| 12 | 9,449,393 | 14% of rent | 1,322,915 | 1,176,764 | 95,650 | 76,960 |
| 13 | 9,600,584 | 14% of rent | 1,344,082 | 1,197,295 | 96,708 | 76,960 |
| 14 | 9,754,193 | 14% of rent | 1,365,587 | 1,218,155 | 97,783 | 76,960 |
| 15 | 9,910,260 | 14% of rent | 1,387,436 | 1,239,349 | 98,876 | 76,960 |
| 16 | 10,068,824 | 14% of rent | 1,409,635 | 1,260,882 | 99,986 | 76,960 |
| 17 | 10,229,926 | 14% of rent | 1,432,190 | 1,282,760 | 101,113 | 76,960 |
| 18 | 10,393,604 | 14% of rent | 1,455,105 | 1,304,987 | 102,259 | 76,960 |
| 19 | 10,559,902 | 14% of rent | 1,478,386 | 1,327,571 | 103,423 | 76,960 |
| 20 | 10,728,860 | 14% of rent | 1,502,040 | 1,350,515 | 104,606 | 76,960 |
| 21 | 10,900,522 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 22 | 11,074,931 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 23 | 11,252,129 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 24 | 11,432,164 | 16% of rent | 1,829,146 | 1,667,808 | 120,961 | 76,960 |
| 25 | 11,615,078 | 16% of rent | 1,858,413 | 1,696,196 | 122,425 | 76,960 |
| 26 | 11,800,919 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 27 | 11,989,734 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 28 | 12,181,570 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 29 | 12,376,475 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 30 | 12,574,499 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| All 30 | 45,390,473 | 40,834,839 | 3,154,644 | 2,308,800 |
The Township and County columns include their ordinary share of the tax on the land, which is never exempt. The schools column is their share of that land tax — the building is exempt, and the service charge replacing it carries no statutory school share.
Thirty years. A per-square-foot floor also applies and has not been obtained.
Start of term not established — the ordinance number for this agreement has not been obtained.
| Year | Rent roll | Charge set by | Service charge | To Township | To County | To schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7,935,479 | 12% of rent | 952,257 | 817,226 | 77,117 | 76,960 |
| 2 | 8,062,447 | 12% of rent | 967,494 | 832,005 | 77,879 | 76,960 |
| 3 | 8,191,446 | 12% of rent | 982,973 | 847,020 | 78,653 | 76,960 |
| 4 | 8,322,509 | 12% of rent | 998,701 | 862,276 | 79,439 | 76,960 |
| 5 | 8,455,669 | 12% of rent | 1,014,680 | 877,776 | 80,238 | 76,960 |
| 6 | 8,590,960 | 12% of rent | 1,030,915 | 893,524 | 81,050 | 76,960 |
| 7 | 8,728,415 | 12% of rent | 1,047,410 | 909,524 | 81,874 | 76,960 |
| 8 | 8,868,070 | 12% of rent | 1,064,168 | 925,779 | 82,712 | 76,960 |
| 9 | 9,009,959 | 12% of rent | 1,081,195 | 942,295 | 83,564 | 76,960 |
| 10 | 9,154,118 | 12% of rent | 1,098,494 | 959,075 | 84,429 | 76,960 |
| 11 | 9,300,584 | 13% of rent | 1,209,076 | 1,066,340 | 89,958 | 76,960 |
| 12 | 9,449,393 | 13% of rent | 1,228,421 | 1,085,105 | 90,925 | 76,960 |
| 13 | 9,600,584 | 13% of rent | 1,248,076 | 1,104,170 | 91,908 | 76,960 |
| 14 | 9,754,193 | 13% of rent | 1,268,045 | 1,123,540 | 92,906 | 76,960 |
| 15 | 9,910,260 | 13% of rent | 1,288,334 | 1,143,220 | 93,921 | 76,960 |
| 16 | 10,068,824 | 13% of rent | 1,308,947 | 1,163,215 | 94,951 | 76,960 |
| 17 | 10,229,926 | 13% of rent | 1,329,890 | 1,183,530 | 95,999 | 76,960 |
| 18 | 10,393,604 | 13% of rent | 1,351,169 | 1,204,170 | 97,062 | 76,960 |
| 19 | 10,559,902 | 13% of rent | 1,372,787 | 1,225,140 | 98,143 | 76,960 |
| 20 | 10,728,860 | 13% of rent | 1,394,752 | 1,246,445 | 99,242 | 76,960 |
| 21 | 10,900,522 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 22 | 11,074,931 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 23 | 11,252,129 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 24 | 11,432,164 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 25 | 11,615,078 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 26 | 11,800,919 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 27 | 11,989,734 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 28 | 12,181,570 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 29 | 12,376,475 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 30 | 12,574,499 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| All 30 | 44,316,436 | 39,793,023 | 3,100,942 | 2,308,800 |
The Township and County columns include their ordinary share of the tax on the land, which is never exempt. The schools column is their share of that land tax — the building is exempt, and the service charge replacing it carries no statutory school share.
Thirty years, on a rising scale from 10% to 14%.
Start of term not established — the ordinance number for this agreement has not been obtained.
| Year | Rent roll | Charge set by | Service charge | To Township | To County | To schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7,935,479 | 10% of rent | 793,548 | 663,277 | 69,181 | 76,960 |
| 2 | 8,062,447 | 10% of rent | 806,245 | 675,593 | 69,816 | 76,960 |
| 3 | 8,191,446 | 10% of rent | 819,145 | 688,106 | 70,461 | 76,960 |
| 4 | 8,322,509 | 10% of rent | 832,251 | 700,819 | 71,117 | 76,960 |
| 5 | 8,455,669 | 10% of rent | 845,567 | 713,736 | 71,782 | 76,960 |
| 6 | 8,590,960 | 11% of rent | 945,006 | 810,191 | 76,754 | 76,960 |
| 7 | 8,728,415 | 11% of rent | 960,126 | 824,858 | 77,510 | 76,960 |
| 8 | 8,868,070 | 11% of rent | 975,488 | 839,759 | 78,278 | 76,960 |
| 9 | 9,009,959 | 11% of rent | 991,095 | 854,899 | 79,059 | 76,960 |
| 10 | 9,154,118 | 11% of rent | 1,006,953 | 870,280 | 79,852 | 76,960 |
| 11 | 9,300,584 | 11% of rent | 1,023,064 | 885,908 | 80,657 | 76,960 |
| 12 | 9,449,393 | 11% of rent | 1,039,433 | 901,786 | 81,476 | 76,960 |
| 13 | 9,600,584 | 11% of rent | 1,056,064 | 917,918 | 82,307 | 76,960 |
| 14 | 9,754,193 | 12% of rent | 1,170,503 | 1,028,924 | 88,029 | 76,960 |
| 15 | 9,910,260 | 12% of rent | 1,189,231 | 1,047,090 | 88,966 | 76,960 |
| 16 | 10,068,824 | 13% of rent | 1,308,947 | 1,163,215 | 94,951 | 76,960 |
| 17 | 10,229,926 | 13% of rent | 1,329,890 | 1,183,530 | 95,999 | 76,960 |
| 18 | 10,393,604 | 13% of rent | 1,351,169 | 1,204,170 | 97,062 | 76,960 |
| 19 | 10,559,902 | 13% of rent | 1,372,787 | 1,225,140 | 98,143 | 76,960 |
| 20 | 10,728,860 | 13% of rent | 1,394,752 | 1,246,445 | 99,242 | 76,960 |
| 21 | 10,900,522 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 22 | 11,074,931 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 23 | 11,252,129 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 24 | 11,432,164 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 25 | 11,615,078 | 60% of the tax bill | 1,806,741 | 1,646,075 | 119,841 | 76,960 |
| 26 | 11,800,919 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 27 | 11,989,734 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 28 | 12,181,570 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 29 | 12,376,475 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| 30 | 12,574,499 | 80% of the tax bill | 2,408,989 | 2,230,255 | 149,953 | 76,960 |
| All 30 | 42,289,914 | 37,827,296 | 2,999,616 | 2,308,800 |
The Township and County columns include their ordinary share of the tax on the land, which is never exempt. The schools column is their share of that land tax — the building is exempt, and the service charge replacing it carries no statutory school share.
Four questions I get asked constantly and cannot answer honestly from the documents I hold. I have filed a records request for each, and will publish the answers here in full — including if they weaken the case on this page.
To be told when Part 2 goes up, leave your email here.
Five changes. None of them needs a change in state law, and every one of them could be moved at a council meeting.
This section is opinion, not documentation, and it is labelled that way on purpose. Everything else on this page is sourced.
If a project genuinely needs twenty or thirty years, the council should have to say so at a public meeting and explain what a shorter term would have cost. The 2018 agreement shows eleven years is a real option, because Robbinsville has already done it.
Ask, at the table, whether a contribution to the district is available — and put the answer in the minutes. If counsel advises it cannot be done, publish that advice. Residents are entitled to know which of the two it is.
The percentage-of-taxes floor already exists in every one of these agreements. It is simply switched off until year fifteen or sixteen. Set it at the start and the whole shape changes.
What the Township collects, what the schools collect, what an ordinary bill would have been, and what services the development will need. Every one of those figures already exists in the developer’s application. They are simply never put in front of residents beforehand.
Had the Township published the collections annually, this page would not have needed a records request to write — and Part 2 would already exist.
Everything above, opened up. Nothing here is new — it is the evidence for the five findings, and the arguments against them.
An ordinary property tax bill is a percentage of assessed value. Every commercial agreement here instead sets an Annual Service Charge as a percentage of Annual Gross Revenue — the rent roll, expressly net of allowances for vacancies and collection losses.3
So the charge tracks the rental market rather than the property market, and it falls when a building sits empty. A tax bill does not.
In each of these six agreements the exemption covers the improvements. The land beneath is assessed and taxed normally, and the school district gets its ordinary share of that land tax.3
This is the clause almost nobody mentions. Every commercial agreement gives the developer a credit against the service charge for the land taxes paid in the previous four quarters.3 So the land tax the schools receive comes out of what the municipality collects. It is not additional money on top.
Under N.J.S.A. 40A:20-12 the service charge goes 95% to the municipality and 5% to the county.4 Set that against how an ordinary Robbinsville tax bill divides on the 2025 rate:2
| Who | Rate per $100 | Share of an ordinary bill | Share of a service charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| School district | 1.924 | 55.2% | none |
| Mercer County | 0.912 | 26.1% | 5% |
| Robbinsville Township | 0.652 | 18.7% | 95% |
| Total | 3.488 | 100% | 100% |
County combines county tax 0.792, library 0.074 and open space 0.046. Township combines municipal purpose 0.577 and municipal open space 0.075.2
Two completely different splits, applied to the same building. The municipality is the smallest claim on an ordinary tax bill — under nineteen cents — and the largest claim on a service charge.
What that is worth in dollars on any particular property depends on figures I do not have yet. That is Part 2.
One agreement in the file comes with the Township’s own twenty-year financial projection: Exhibit 2 to the amendment authorised by Ordinance 2012-20, the Estimated Fiscal Plan for the Matrix 7A warehouse.1 It is worth reading because it is not my arithmetic — it is the schedule the Township accepted.
| Year | Projected charge | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $793,548 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 2 | $805,753 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 3 | $818,163 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 4 | $831,764 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 5 | $843,562 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 6 | $856,558 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 7 | $869,755 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 8 | $883,158 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 9 | $896,769 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 10 | $910,592 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 11 | $924,629 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 12 | $938,884 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 13 | $953,361 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 14 | $968,063 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 15 | $982,993 | 10% of revenue |
| Year 16 | $998,155 | greater of 10% of revenue or 20% of taxes |
| Year 17 | $1,013,554 | greater of 10% of revenue or 20% of taxes |
| Year 18 | $1,151,377 | 40% of taxes otherwise due |
| Year 19 | $1,827,188 | 60% of taxes otherwise due |
| Year 20 | $2,487,961 | 80% of taxes otherwise due |
| All 20 years | $20,755,787 |
Every figure above is what the Township’s consultant forecast in 2012. I do not know what was actually billed or collected, and nothing here should be read as a statement of receipts. Industrial rents in this submarket rose considerably after 2012, and the charge is a percentage of revenue — so actual collections may well have run above this plan.
In the last three years the schedule stops being a percentage of rent and becomes a stated percentage of the taxes otherwise due. Because the exhibit prints both the dollar figure and the percentage, the bill it assumes can be recovered by division:
| Year | Charge in the plan | Which the exhibit states is | So the bill it assumes is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 18 | $1,151,377 | 40% of taxes otherwise due | $2,878,442 |
| Year 19 | $1,827,188 | 60% of taxes otherwise due | $3,045,313 |
| Year 20 | $2,487,961 | 80% of taxes otherwise due | $3,109,951 |
They are what the Township’s 2012 consultant assumed a full tax bill on this property would be in years 18 to 20 — which falls around 2030 to 2032. They are a forecast about the future, made in 2012.
They are not the property’s bill today, and they cannot be turned into an assessment by dividing by today’s tax rate — that would apply a 2025 rate to a 2030s bill. What a full bill on this property would actually be needs the assessor’s figures, which I have requested.
What can be said with no assumption at all is the shape of the schedule: for seventeen of twenty years the charge is pinned to a tenth of a rent roll, and whatever the building turns out to be worth does not change it.
The usual defence of these agreements is that the terms are standard and no developer would have accepted less. The ordinance book complicates that: 10% over twenty years in 2012 and 2013, 15% over eleven years in 2018, same developer, same redevelopment area.1
These are not identical projects. Ordinance 2018-18 covers different lots and different buildings, and 2018 was a very different market — the industrial sector was still climbing out of the recession when the earlier deals were struck, and a developer then had leverage a developer in 2018 did not. A town negotiating in 2012 could not have known what 2018 would look like.
All of that is true, and it is the argument for shorter terms rather than against the comparison.
Nobody negotiates well against an unknown future. That is exactly why you do not sign twenty and thirty years of it away. A ten-year agreement signed in 2012 would have come back to the table in 2022.
And the same reasoning applies to the thirty-year agreements signed after 2018, at the top of the market.
A page that only quotes its own side is worth nothing. Where an objection lands, I say so.
The serious objection. Redevelopment law is built on it: the premise of an exemption is that the project does not happen without one. If that holds here, the comparison is not to a full tax bill — it is to the farmland that stood there, and the Township is far ahead.
Where it lands: entirely, on whether an exemption was justified at all. I am not arguing these projects should not have been built. Where it does not: it justifies an exemption, not these terms. “The project needed help” and “the project needed twenty years at ten percent” are different claims, and only the first is ever actually made.
True, and it argues the opposite of what it sounds like. New Jersey school funding is not a fee for service — the district sets a levy and divides it across the assessed value in town. A property that pays in and sends no children is the best thing that can happen to a school levy. Taking it out of the base removes exactly the benefit it was supposed to deliver.
Partly true and it deserves saying. Property exempted this way is left out of the township’s equalised valuation, which lowers its Local Fair Share and raises its Equalisation Aid. How much, for Robbinsville specifically, I have not established to a standard I would defend in public — so I am not putting a number on it. What is worth saying is that to the extent it works, the cost moves to taxpayers in other New Jersey towns rather than disappearing.
The split is genuinely state law and Robbinsville did not write it. What a council controls is everything the statute leaves open: the term, the percentage, when the step-ups begin, and whether a floor applies from year one. Ordinance 2018-18 changed two of those without anyone needing Trenton’s permission.
On whether a school contribution could be negotiated into one of these agreements: I am not going to assert that it can. New Jersey law recognises a municipality–board of education remittance contract in a specific school-facilities bond setting, and how much further that reaches is a question for counsel, not for a campaign page. What can be said is that no agreement in this file contains such a term.
Township of Robbinsville, production under the Open Public Records Act dated April 12, 2026. The commercial agreements cited here are Ordinances 2012-13, 2012-20, 2013-16, 2013-17 and 2018-18, and the financial agreements for Hamilton Development (Block 29 Lot 1.19), Robbinsville Self Storage (Block 29 Lot 2.39) and Meridia/Capodagli (Block 1 Lot 65.02). The twenty-year schedule is Exhibit 2, KTR NJ Urban Renewal II LLC — Estimated Fiscal Plan, attached to the amendment authorised by Ordinance 2012-20.
These are public records, and the campaign will send the full production to anyone who asks.
New Jersey Division of Taxation, 2025 Abstract of Ratables for Mercer County. Robbinsville is line 12: county 0.792, county library 0.074, county open space 0.046, school 1.924, municipal purpose 0.577, municipal open space 0.075 — total 3.488.
nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/lpt/ratables/Mercer2025.pdfNew Jersey Long Term Tax Exemption Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:20-1 et seq. Section 40A:20-3 defines Annual Gross Revenue, Net Profit and Total Project Cost. The revenue percentages, the land tax credit and the staged adjustments are in the individual agreements at Source 1, typically at Sections 4.01, 4.08 and 4.09.
law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-40a/chapter-20/N.J.S.A. 40A:20-12 sets how an annual service charge is divided between the municipality and the county.
law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-40a/section-40a-20-12/From the Township: the assessed value of the land and of the exempt improvements for each parcel, by year; the land tax billed and paid; the Annual Service Charge billed and received; the credit applied against it; the administrative fee; and the county remittance. Plus the per-square-foot Schedule A for Hamilton Development and Self Storage, and Ordinance 2024-26 (AIREIT).
Every document behind this page is available from the campaign on request. Show me an error and I will correct it in public and say who corrected it.
Every figure on this page comes from a document you can open, or from arithmetic on one. The tax rates are from the New Jersey Division of Taxation. The agreement terms and the Annual Service Charge schedule are from the Township of Robbinsville's own records, obtained under the Open Public Records Act on April 12, 2026, and available from this campaign on request.
If you find an error on this page, tell us and we will correct it in public.