Open space tax cut one vote away

Open space tax cut one vote away
Public hearing, vote set for Jan. 19 meeting
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

TINTON FALLS — Borough officials continued to be split on acceptance of a referendum that would cut the borough’s open space tax rate from 3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 2.25 cents.

The Borough Council introduced an ordinance by a 3-1 vote at the Jan. 5 meeting, accepting the Nov. 3 referendum in which nearly 60 percent of votes cast favored a reduction in the open space tax rate. Council President Duane Morrill was absent for the vote.

The lone dissenting vote was from Councilman Andrew Mayer, who has continued to oppose cutting the tax.

“I feel that it would be detrimental at this time,” he said in an interview. “I think it will be better for the taxpayer to have that money available at least in the near term until we can get the picture of how we are going to be using the open space funds.”

Mayer said he considered voting for the ordinance, but in the end he cited some confusion on the ballot as a reason he continues to go against the results.

“It was a hard decision, but I did speak to some people who voted on the referendum and didn’t realize the difference in the yes and no vote,” he said. “It was parallel with the state open space tax referendum.

“People voted yes on the state and voted yes on the Tinton Falls one, too, thinking they supported open space,” he added. “I actually heard from people who were confused.”

Mayer went on to say that with Fort Monmouth closing, the borough should be waiting before a change is made to the fund.

“Looking at the bigger picture and getting as much information as possible on acquisitions, including Fort Monmouth, would be wise to do before we go cutting the fund, because I think it may leave us short,” he said.

The tentative schedule has the ordinance up for adoption at the Jan. 19 council meeting, which will also include a public hearing. Mayer expects there to be a lot of public comment in support of the ordinance at the meeting.

“I think we will hear from people who come to the hearing,” he said. “I believe that there are probably the votes that will end up reducing the tax.

“We had 40 percent of the people vote to leave it the same, and I think representing that portion of the population, even though I probably won’t be successful, is worth it,” he added.

The issue of cutting the open space tax rate became controversial over the summer when the Borough Council spent several meetings debating whether to submit a question on the open space tax rate for a referendum vote.

The council ended up accepting the referendum question with a 3-2 vote at the Aug. 18 council meeting, just nine days before the deadline to submit referendum questions to the state.

Council members Scott Larkin, NancyAnn Fama and Gary Baldwin supported adding the question to the ballot, while Mayer and Morrill did not.

When the topic of the open space tax first came up, the argument was whether to keep it at 3 cents or lower it to 1.5 cents, until Larkin eventually proposed the compromise of 2.25 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Under the current 3-cent tax, Tinton Falls will collect $901,774 in dedicated open space funding, according to Director of Finance Stephen Pfeffer. With the tax cut approved by voters, approximately $676,000 will be collected during the 2010 tax year.

Pfeffer also said that currently there is approximately $1.7 million in the open space trust fund.

According to Borough Clerk Karen Mount-Taylor, the borough collected $384,181 through the open space tax in 2007. After the borough’s property revaluation in 2008, the amount collected rose to $876,746.

With the tax rate cut approved, the average resident will receive a $25.79 tax cut a year. Last year, a resident with a house assessed at the borough average of $343,760 paid about $103 in taxes for open space.

The council also introduced the temporary replacement for former Business Administrator Bryan Dempsey, who took a position in Spring Lake Heights.

Current Public Works Director John Bucciero will temporarily replace Dempsey, and Bucciero said it might be difficult to balance the two jobs, but that he will have help.

“It’s a little bit of a task,” he said in an interview. “In public works, I have four good foremen, and they each run a division. I come in early, and we go over what needs to be done and by 8:30 I’m in this office.”

Bucciero has a history as a temporary replacement, taking over in 2005 from July to October.

“I used to stand in for Mayor [Peter] Maclearie until he hired Bryan Dempsey,” he said. “The job’s still the same, it’s still the government, and the same things still need to be done.”

Bucciero said his experience in the town is going to make the transition to the new administrator a lot easier.

“I volunteered before and I volunteered again,” he said. “I have no problem helping the borough out.

“I think it tends to make the transition a little easier from the one that left to the new one, because you have someone in here that is familiar with what has been going on.”

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.