Waterview Proposal May Bring $1.14M in Tax Revenue

Joseph Burgis, principal of Burgis Associates, gave a presentation on the fiscal impacts of the Waterview proposal to the Parsippany council last week.

The public hearing will be continued at the next council meeting on Oct. 1 at Parsippany Hills HS at 7 p.m. 

Burgis assessed the fiscal implications of the proposed rezoning for 60 townhouses and 190,000 square feet of retail space.

These 60 townhouses “would generated approximately 142 people through the site. That’s less than ½ percent increase to the population of the community," said Burgis.

Burgis said that through research, they projected a total of 23 children would be on site with the building of the 60 townhouses.

• Preschool – 13 kids
• K through 5 - 5 kids
• 6 through 8 - 2 kids
• 9 through 12 – 3 kids
• Total – 23 children on site

“We anticipate 10 public school children,” said Burgis “Oftentimes families with children at some point decide that they want the larger private backyard. (so) a large number of those families with preschoolers would end up moving out of the development and into single family dwellings.”

According to research, Burgis said that they estimated that 285 employees and 500 jobs would be generated from the development.

The total anticipated tax revenue would be $1,137,259. Here’s the breakdown of this tax revenue:

• Local school - $723,429
• Municipality - $245,559
• County - $126,314
• Local Library – $18,108
• County Open Space - $8,392
• Fire District 6 - $7,949
• Local Open Space - $7,508

Burgis’ presentation gave the estimated per unit costs. For residential use, the number of residents or employees is 142 and the per capita cost is $593.78 and for nonresidential use, the number of residents or employees is 285 and the per capita cost is $185.34.

Burgis used two methodologies: the classic per capita approach “that was historically used by planners and economists and were a good quick snapshot of the development,” said Burgis, adding that this method tends to overestimate the costs.

The “second, more customized approach … recognizes certain budgetary components are not directly affected by population and/or student increases.”

Per Capita and the second one, is  He summarized the anticipated costs and revenues under both methodologies.

• Under the per capita methodology, municipal revenue would be $279,124, cost would be $137,138, making the net at $141,986. School revenue would be $723,429, cost would be $130,280, making the net at $593,149. The total net of both is $735,135
• Under the CUPR Per Capita methodology, the net surplus for both municipal and school is $735,100.

The Retail Trade expenditure for the average household is $24,665 and with the 60 proposed townhouses, the total expenditures is $1.47 million.

Site development fees total $1.4 million: $286,100 for the building subcode fee; $25,000 for electrical, plumbing and fire subcode fees; and $1.11 million for sewer and water connection fees.

These fees would be generated for the municipality over "a 3-year buildout of the project," said Burgis.

Related Patch Articles:

• Waterview Proposal Benefits Balance Master Plan Inconsistencies, Planner Says
• Proposed Waterview Development: Traffic Impact are …Non-Existent 
• Controversial Waterview Development Decision Delayed
• Waterview Development Receives Planning Board Approval
• Waterview Plan Poses Potential Conflict for Parsippany Planner, says Attorney
• Survey: 63% of Residents Support Waterview Development