Belleville to Pay Roche $1.7 Million

The Township of Belleville has agreed to refund $1.77 million in property tax over-payments made by Roche Molecular Systems dating back to 2007.

Earlier this month, the Belleville Township Council approved on first reading a bond ordinance to fund the repayment. Although the full amount will be paid to Roche in one lump sum, Belleville will be able to pay off the bond over the course of several years in small annual increments.

A second and final vote on the bond ordinance is expected next month.

In September, Belleville agreed to settle tax appeals filed by Roche, part of a global pharmaceutical company and a major employer in the area, for its property located at 11 Franklin Ave. Buildings located at the site were torn down about a year ago.

Calls placed to Roche’s headquarters in San Francisco were not returned.

The property, which has been used for industrial purposes since the 1800s, is also contaminated, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. “Low levels of arsenic” have been found in the groundwater and soil at the site, but the contamination has not spread off the site, said Lawrence Hajna, a DEP spokesman. It was unclear when the site was contaminated or by which owner, Hajna added, although Roche now has responsibility for the cleanup. Roche “voluntarily” entered into a remediation program in 2006 and is now finalizing a cleanup plan, Hajna also said.

The presence of contamination can often have an impact on a property’s value. Roche first filed a tax appeal in 2007, the year after the company entered into the DEP’s remediation program. The company has filed appeals every year since.

Under the settlement, Belleville agreed to accept revised assessments for the property for the years 2007 through 2009. In each of those years, the site’s original assessment was about $30 million, which has been reduced to about $5 million. In 2010 and last year, the assessments were about $19 million and $11 million respectively, which under the terms of the settlement remain unchanged.

The settlement also states that in future years, Belleville will use an appraisal prepared by John Coyle, a real estate expert based in Pennsylvania, in considering the value of the property. Roche will also provide Belleville with information about the annual costs of site remediation.  

The owners of another former industrial site, the Walter Kidde property on Main Street, are also in litigation with Belleville over the site’s tax assessment. Like the Roche site, the Kidde property is also contaminated.