Budget Approved

Wildwood approves '06 budget
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, September 20, 2006

WILDWOOD — City Commission approved its 2006 budget this week after receiving approval from the state's Division of Local Government Services.
The state had to give its blessing to an additional agreement between the city and developer K. Hovnanian in which the company agreed to pay the city $1.5 million by Dec. 15.

According to the budget, the city anticipated that money, a partial payment for the developer's purchase of a former city landfill, as revenue that would help support the $24.8 million spending plan.

Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said the state gave the nod to the agreement late Friday, and the commission in turn adopted the budget early Monday.

City Clerk Christopher Wood then drove the document to Trenton and placed it in the state's hands.

The amendment to the original memorandum of understanding between the city and K. Hovnanian notes that the developer has spent more than $1.5 million conducting its on-site analysis of the city's former backbay landfill in an effort to turn that property into an upscale residential development.
The company had initially planned to build more than 200 homes on the site, but that number may change.

According to the agreement, however, “such analysis has revealed that the costs for developing the site are substantially higher than initially contemplated.”

Under the agreement, K. Hovnanian agrees to pay the $1.5 million by December, and both sides agree to meet by Oct. 20 to finalize the redevelopment agreement for the back-bay area.

In addition, the agreement states that if the developer does not make the payment, the city can withdraw from the agreement and the $3 million already paid to the city by K.Hovnanian does not have to be returned.

The city would also be given all documentation and information already collected by K. Hovnanian regarding the landfill site, including surveys, professional reports and any environmental studies. The city also reserves the right to take the project to another developer.

With the 2006 budget finally adopted, Troiano looked ahead to the 2007 budget process.

He said the city has some surplus funds and payments due next year that will help support the 2007 spending plan, but he remains cautious.

“Until we get these bigger buildings in place, it's going to be difficult each year,” Troiano said, referring to a number of high-rise hotels planned in the city.

Troiano estimated those properties would add billions to the city's ratable base and reduce the tax burden on the town's other property owners.

The city's ratable base rose from $546,094,923 in 2004 to $1.727 billion in 2005. This year, the ratable base is up to $1.765 billion.

Troiano said he expects to hear some news from the state Department of Environmental Protection within 45 to 60 days on the status of those buildings. The state had previously denied the first of those proposed high-rises a permit to build.


To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com