HAMILTON >> Public Service Enterprise Group, the diversified energy company, will once again be refunded tens of thousands of dollars in Hamilton property tax payments, and Hamilton Police will continue wearing body cameras manufactured by a company now known as Axon Enterprise Inc.
PSEG Services Corp., an offshoot of the parent company, continued its tradition of filing tax appeals when it challenged its 2017 property value assessments and reached a negotiated settlement with Hamilton Township resulting in PSEG receiving about $42,000 in refunds.
Hamilton Council approved of the settlement last week, passing a resolution that imposes “fair” 2017 assessments on PSEG’s 53.67-acre commercial property at 1325 Klockner Road and its 39-acre Yardville substation at 5350 S. Broad St.
The agreement reduces PSEG’s South Broad Street assessment by nearly $600,000 and reduces its Klockner Road assessment by nearly $1 million, effectively reducing the company’s tax burden.
Specifically, PSEG’s settlements for tax year 2017 reduced its $3.86 million Klockner Road assessment to $2.9 million, resulting in an approximate $26,000 refund, and also reduced PSEG’s $6.59 million Yardville substation assessment to $6 million, resulting in an approximate refund of $15,830, according to the Hamilton Council-approved resolutions.
PSEG paid about $119,000 in 2017 property taxes on its Klockner Road property and paid about $200,000 in 2017 property taxes on its Yardville substation property, according to the New Jersey Division of Taxation. The multibillion-dollar energy company successfully convinced the township that those payments were too high and warranted a negotiated refund of $42,000.
PSEG Services Corp. has a history of filing appeals in New Jersey Tax Court to secure lower property assessments in Hamilton Township. The company previously challenged the assessed value of its commercial properties at 1325 Klockner Road and 5350 S. Broad St. for tax years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015, according to public documents.
The township settled those prior tax appeals in 2016. Then-Hamilton Business Administrator John Ricci said PSEG would receive a refund of about $115,000 in the form of a tax credit as a result of the settlement two years ago. Public Service Enterprise Group, the parent of PSEG Services Corp., is a diversified energy holding company with approximately $43 billion in assets, according to PSEG’s 2017 annual report.
Police Bodycams
In addition to the tax appeal settlements, Hamilton Council last week approved a resolution that updates a prior contract for police body-worn cameras.
Two years ago, a company then known as Taser International supplied Hamilton Police with 120 body-worn cameras with unlimited data storage in accordance with a five-year, $595,722 maximum contract Hamilton Council approved in March 2016. But Taser International rebranded itself as Axon Enterprise last year, forcing Hamilton Council to revisit the bodycam contract.
Hamilton Council was governed exclusively by Republicans in 2016. The governing body is led now by a Democratic majority that upheld the bodycam contract with a slight modification. Council last week passed an amended resolution to keep the prior contract in place with a slight amendment reflecting that Taser International changed its name to Axon Enterprise.
The amended contract ensures that Hamilton Police will continue to be equipped with the Axon 2 body-worn camera for at least the next three years at a remaining cost of $300,780.
