PLAINFIELD, NJ — Earlier this month, the Plainfield City Council advanced an ordinance that would require the administration to produce periodic reports about the status of payment in lieu of taxes agreements with developers. The administration pushed back on the proposal, citing separation-of-powers concerns and asserting that broad financial data is already presented to the council.
Payment in lieu of taxes agreements, more commonly known as PILOTs, are tax incentives for developers that allow them to make payments based on a portion of their revenue instead of paying standard property taxes. This proportion increases over the life of the agreement, which is typically 30 years in Plainfield, but is sometimes 15 years, as in this E 9th Street proposal.
Councilwoman Darcella Sessomes introduced ordinance MC 2026-31—read it here—which would require quarterly reports on each active PILOT agreement, including the amount due, amount paid, outstanding balances, delinquency status, enforcement proceedings, and other information. The ordinance would also require an annual report summarizing PILOT collections, delinquencies, defaults and enforcement actions. Sessomes' ordinance was introduced a month after Hackensack announced that an audit found $5.4 million in unpaid PILOT payments from developers.
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“The City Council finds that regular reporting regarding the collection and administration of Annual Service Charges under Long-Term Tax Exemption Financial Agreements is necessary to promote transparency, fiscal accountability, informed budgeting, and effective legislative oversight,” reads the ordinance.
“The City Council further finds that standardized reporting concerning such Financial Agreements will assist the governing body in evaluating municipal revenues, identifying collection trends, monitoring compliance with redevelopment agreements approved by the City, and protecting the financial interests of the residents of the City of Plainfield,” it continues.
The administration contends that the ordinance violates the separation of powers, arguing that by requiring the creation of a new report, the council is effectively directing the work of the executive branch.
“It is fully within the right of every council member to request any document that is in possession of the administration,” said Corporation Counsel David Minchello. “However, this specific ordinance requires the creation of a report. And that is, in my legal opinion, a direction of a department head. Council cannot direct or supervise department heads. Furthermore, there's a section in the code regarding reporting requirements and the creation of reports and specifically says that the mayor shall direct department heads to create reports.”
Mayor Mapp vowed to veto the ordinance, which was up on first reading, should it pass on second reading at a future meeting.
“This is a clear violation of the separation of powers and I would encourage you to not move forward, but, of course, the council can do whatever it wishes, and the administration will respond in an appropriate fashion,” said Mapp.
The ordinance states that the administration “shall cause to be prepared and submitted to the City Council a written report regarding each active Long-Term Tax Exemption Financial Agreement." The ordinance also explicitly states that it does not authorize the council to direct the work of the administration.
“Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to authorize the City Council to supervise, direct, or interfere with the day-to-day administration or management of any municipal department, division, officer, or employee,” reads the ordinance.
Mapp argued that the city council can already see all money that is collected by the city with existing reports while stating that, to his knowledge, no developers with PILOT agreements are delinquent.
“We will not hesitate to come to the governing body if a developer is not paid his or her PILOT,” said Mapp. “We will seek with your permission to revoke such a PILOT.”
Councilwoman Sessomes said there was no malice or ill intent behind the ordinance, and that it is based on her feedback from residents.
“The conversation was around more transparency around the PILOT, looking at what other cities are doing with pilot organizations, either doing moratoriums—which I am not in support of—but at least taking a hard look at all the actors and making sure that we don't have any bad actors,” said Sessomes.
Sessomes said she changed the ordinance to direct the administration as a whole, rather than the finance director, in an effort to address the separation-of-powers concerns.
“I would like to counter with we don't receive [information] on a regular cadence,” said Sessomes. “Receiving it right when it's time just to pass the budget is not significant enough to really dive deep and to get an understanding of it. So the intent was to have it on a more regular cadence.”
Mapp said he thought Sessomes' concerns were reasonable, but countered that the council can ask for budget reports that already exist.
“Any existing report we will gladly provide to the governing body,” said Mapp. “But as it was mentioned, we take exception to being directed to create reports that do not exist.”
"Is there a current report that exists that can be shared that says who are all the PILOTs, how much they've paid in their taxes for that quarter—or as of that point in time of the year—that can be shared?" asked Sessomes.
“We can provide you with information concerning the status of the budget on a monthly basis,” responded Mapp, who again called the concerns valid. “Every receipt that comes into the city has to be entered into the general ledger.”
Business Administrator Abby Levenson added that the Plainfield City Council already receives a monthly financial report package.
“The finance director sends out the monthly financial reports to the council,” said Levenson. “The monthly financial report has the whole check registers for the month. Any wire we've made, the audit trails, the vendor activity reports, all the revenues, the trusts. It's a lot of documents. It's usually around 20 attachments each month.”
“Quite frankly, I wasn't even aware that finance was sending you all of this information,” said Mapp. “So I am saying that we could easily do that. But to ask us to create a report that does not exist, that is something that the governing body doesn't have, per the charter, the responsibility to direct the finance director to create a special report. But the finance director can, and I just learned that she does, provide a plethora of reports to the governing body on a monthly basis. And we will continue to do that.”
During the discussion, Mapp pointed to sheets 4A and 4B of the city's budget (PDF here), which detail miscellaneous revenues realized over the year, including PILOT payments.
Council President Julienne Cherry said these only showed the “lump sum” without detailing each payment. Corporation Counsel David Minchello said detailed revenue information could be generated and suggested determining whether the financial reports already provided to the council satisfy the request.
The governing body passed this ordinance on first reading with Councilors Graham and McRae abstaining. Five council members voted to advance the ordinance, the same number that would be needed to override Mayor Mapp's promised veto of the measure.