Township of Mine Hill, NJ Chapter 229 Escrow Accounts

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Mine Hill 8-13-1987 by Ord. No. 383-87. Amendments noted where applicable.]

§ 229-1 Escrow accounts created; deposits; escrow agreement.

A. There are hereby created escrow accounts, the purpose of which is to insure that sufficient monies are available to pay certain costs and fees that cannot be fixed at the time of the creation of the escrow account along with those which can be fixed.

B. At the time of submitting an application to an administrative officer, the applicant shall be required to make a deposit as hereinafter provided and execute an escrow agreement to defray the costs and fees necessitated by the application.

C. The escrow agreement shall be in a form approved by the Township Attorney. The amounts specified for the escrow fund shall be estimates of anticipated fees and costs. Said fees and costs must be paid prior to certification by the administrative officer of a complete application. All costs and fees required by this section and any other section shall be paid prior to the application being considered complete; provided, however, that payment of the fee in and of itself shall not be deemed to make the application complete. In the event that the amounts required to be posted by this section are not sufficient to cover the charge incurred by the Township of Mine Hill, the responsible department, board or Township Council is granted the power to request additional funds as provided for hereinafter. In the event the amounts posted as fees shall be in excess of the amount required for all charges, the excess funds shall be returned to the applicant within 30 days of the issuance of a certificate of occupancy, other notice of completion or permit for the project which the application fees cover or within 30 days of the denial of the application.

§ 229-2 Determination of sufficiency of escrow funds.

Before issuing a permit for any element of an application, the administrative officer shall determine from the financial officer whether there are sufficient escrow funds to pay all pending bills attributable to the particular application. The financial officer shall periodically advise the administrative officer of the balance of all escrow accounts and when additional funds are required as provided for hereinafter. In the event additional funds are required, it shall be the obligation of the administrative officer to notify the applicant of the amounts required as additional fees, and in the event there is a refusal or failure to make the payments required, the administrative officer shall notify the approving authority. In the event the additional fees are not paid, the application shall be considered incomplete, and the Township shall take no further action on such application until such time as the additional fees have been paid. In the event additional fees are required, the additional fees shall be paid to the Township of Mine Hill in accordance with the agreement already entered into or any additional terms which may be agreed to by the applicant and the approving authority.

§ 229-3 Basis for determining initial deposit.

The initial monies required for deposit into escrow before an application is considered complete will be based on the total expected cost as computed by the Township.

§ 229-4 Additional fees.

There shall be an additional fee due and owing whenever the original amount paid into escrow is reduced by charges against the account to 25% or less of the original amount. The concerned department, board or Council of the Township shall in writing require the applicant to provide an additional 25% of the original amount, which additional fee shall be payable prior to the Township considering in any way or holding hearing on, or public or private discussion of, any matter which is the subject of the application.

§ 229-5 Accounting of fees.

A. In the event any applicant desires an accounting of the expenses or fees paid, the applicant shall request such in a letter directed to the administrative officer. The applicant shall be responsible for any costs incurred by the Township in having its professional and administrative staff prepare an accounting of the fees expended. Such additional amount as may be required for said accounting shall be paid to the Township prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy, permit or notice of completion in the event that there are insufficient escrow funds to pay for said accounting.

B. In the event the applicant believes the fees to be unreasonable, the Township Council or other Board of the Township shall hear and decide whether such fees are reasonable.