As the mayor of one of New Jersey’s largest cities was scrambling to curb the spread of novel coronavirus earlier this month, the largest operator of malls in the United States had another idea.

This was nine or 10 days ago. New Jersey already had declared a state of emergency, at least one state resident had died and Gov. Phil Murphy called for cancellations of gatherings of 250 people or more when Elizabeth’s mayor called Simon Property Group with an urgent question.

“What’s your plan to shut down the mall?” asked Mayor Chris Bollwage, referring to the Mills at Jersey Gardens, one of the dozen Simon shopping centers in New Jersey.

“What’s your plan to cut my taxes?" replied Mike Romstad, an executive vice president at the company, according to Bollwage’s account.

Bollwage, in an interview with NJ Advance Media this week, said he considered it a “threat.” A Simon spokeswoman said company officials “categorically deny making a verbal threat to the mayor.” However, she did not deny that the request for tax cuts was made, and Simon less than a week later sent a letter seeking millions of dollars in immediate tax relief.

Bollwage, who said he received the letter March 17, isn’t the only mayor in New Jersey angry with Simon officials and their response to the global pandemic.

In Jersey City, Mayor Steven Fulop said he had to send his municipal prosecutor and armed police officers to Newport Centre, another Simon property, to enforce their city’s shutdown order after Simon refused to comply.

“They gave us a hard time — a really, really difficult time,” Fulop said. "It took us actually having police there ... until they actually acquiesced.”

Bollwage and Fulop both said Simon placed retail workers and mall customers at risk. Bollwage claimed the company conditioned closures on tax breaks and Fulop said Simon executives halfway across the country forced local workers to defy legal orders to close.

Simon officials said in a statement they were waiting until they could implement “crisis safety closure protocols” from their own emergency management plan. They added that the “health and safety of our shoppers, retailers and employees is of paramount importance.”

(Editor’s note: After this story was published on NJ.com and in The Star-Ledger, Simon officials provided a response. Read it here.)

Public health experts have been urging people to stay home and avoid large gatherings, but some pro-business advocates say things went too far, too quickly. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group, has decried state and local governments for issuing blanket shutdowns.

“We can achieve public health without depriving the people most in need of the products and services provided by businesses across the country,” said CEO Emily Seidel in a statement.

Fulop ordered the malls closed on March 16, adding to an earlier order shuttering stores and limiting bars and restaurants. When Jake Hudnut, the city’s prosecutor, arrived with police, Fulop said they were told, “Our corporate office in Indiana believes your city has no authority to order the facility closed.”

“We were responding on behalf of employees of the stores in the mall begging the mayor and I to enforce what the mayor had done so they could go home and be safe,” Hudnut said in an interview.

Fulop said other businesses either complied with the order or closed after city officials visited to explain it — except for Newport Centre.

Mall management told city officials they would close for the day, but intended to open again on March 17.

The standoffs were made moot that day, when Gov. Phil Murphy ordered all malls in the state to close.

A day later, Simon announced it was closing all 200 of its locations across the U.S. By then, the coronavirus outbreak in New Jersey surged to at least 267 cases, with three deaths.

That same day, the Elizabeth officials said they received a letter from Simon — seeking millions of dollars in tax breaks.

According to a copy of the letter obtained by NJ Advance Media, the company wanted nearly $3.8 million in tax deferments until 2021 and a 40% reduction in its property tax burden, from $64 million to $38.5 million in light of the “unprecedented crisis."

“We ask for your reasonable cooperation in granting these necessary requests to preserve the jobs, sales tax revenue and retail commerce at the property,” said the letter, signed by company Treasurer Donald Frey.

The letter was copied to the governor’s office. A spokesman for Murphy did not respond to a request for comment.

Bollwage said he would not entertain the request for tax relief.

“I’m dealing every day with how to protect the city from a virus and how to get the hospitals the necessary equipment, as well as protecting emergency medical services,” Bollwage said in an interview.

“All they cared about was how much taxes they were going to save.”

Simon, an Indiana-based real estate company, reported $5.7 billion in revenue in February, according to Yahoo News, but has seen its stock prices plummet in recent weeks amid the pandemic.

The spokeswoman for Simon said these are unique times for malls in New Jersey.

“We call on all local and state officials to recognize the tremendous contribution our center makes to the community in terms of job creation, small business growth and infrastructure and we expect fair and equitable treatment with respect to taxation," said Ali Slocum, a vice president for communications at the company.

She did not respond to follow-up questions regarding whether Simon made similar requests from other cities. Fulop, the Jersey City mayor, said he was not aware of any such ask to his administration.

It’s also unclear whether other major companies have sought similar accommodations.

Richard La Barbiera, the mayor of Paramus — which is New Jersey’s largest retail hub — said Friday he had not received any requests for tax relief from the big mall operators in his town.

Brandon J. McKoy, the president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank that has criticized corporate tax breaks in the state, said now is not the time for major corporations to be demanding tax relief.

“Local and state governments are going to need all the resources they can get, and the idea that any entity would privately communicate to demand a reduction in their tax liability without going through the proper channels is incredibly concerning," McKoy said.

Bollwage was incensed by the request for tax relief so soon in the response to the pandemic.

“I think large corporations should be in the process of saying, ‘Hey mayor, how can I help you?’ instead of saying, 'Hey, mayor, how can I screw the town?"

Clarification: An earlier version of this article said Simon officials sent the city of Elizabeth the letter seeking tax relief the day after Gov. Murphy ordered the closure of malls. The letter was undated, and Simon officials said after publication that they had sent it prior to the shutdown order. Elizabeth officials said it was delivered after the order.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Allison Pries contributed to this report.

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