Jersey City Mayor Steven M. Fulop

JERSEY CITY, NJ—After a Board of Education audit last year contended the city was and its school district were not collecting millions of dollars in revenue due to inaccurate Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) assessments, the city will be moving forward with an audit of its own.

Jersey City Mayor Steven M. Fulop has announced that the City of Jersey City will be moving forward with hiring auditors to review all historical PILOT agreements per the recommendation of the Board of Education forensic audit. City officials say the audit will ensure the city is receiving the maximum amount of revenue according to each individual PILOT agreement and any additional revenue found will be transferred to the Board of Education.

"While our administration has done away with granting tax abatements, we feel it is important to audit the abatements that were granted by previous mayors to ensure that those agreements are being upheld," Mayor Fulop said. "Our priority over the next few months is to work closely with the Board of Education to solve the issues facing the city, and if there are recommendations from their audit that show areas where more money can be made available, our responsibly is to pursue it."