Franklin Lakes August 17, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Council authorizes funds for Medco tax appeal by Frank J. McMahon Medco Health Solutions Inc. has filed an appeal of the property tax the company must pay the Borough of Franklin Lakes, and the borough council recently passed a resolution to authorize the expenditure of not more than $25,000 for a cost estimator to provide an opinion on the value of that property. The property contains a 650,000 square foot building and is currently assessed at $114 million, which requires Medco to pay an annual property tax of $1,744,200 to the borough. Merck-Medco Managed Care LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., purchased 197 acres of the property in 1997. Since then, the company’s affiliation and name have changed. The company currently employs about 1,700 people in the borough. Under its present name, Medco Health Solutions is considered the nation’s leading pharmacy benefit management company, serving benefit plans of employers, unions, managed care organizations, Blue Cross/Blue Shield groups, and insurance companies that provide benefits to millions of Americans, including millions of retirees. In July, Medco announced that it would be acquired by Express Scripts, the third largest pharmacy benefit management company in the country, in a $29.1 billion deal that is expected to close in 2012. The proposed merger has generated a lot of concern that Medco will have to reduce its workforce at its headquarters in Franklin Lakes and may, therefore, need less space in the borough. The property was formerly owned by the International Business Machines Company from 1971 until the end of 1992, when it was vacated. At one time, IBM had 2,400 employees in the building on the site. That building was vacant from 1992 to 1996, when The Western World Insurance Group leased a portion of the building and contracted in 1996 for a 15-year lease on 51,000 square feet of the building with an option to lease another 10,000 square feet. In late 1996, the property was purchased by Gale & Wentworth, a commercial real estate management company that planned $3.5 million in renovations to add aesthetic appeal and marketability. In 1997, Gale & Wentworth sold the property to Medco while retaining a sevenacre portion of the property that is located in Wyckoff for future residential development. The sale of the property to Merck-Medco at the time was subject to the Western World lease, so the insurance company has remained at the site while the rest of the building is occupied by Medco.