Beach Haven Borough Council wants to include an open space tax referendum in the November election, with the hope of beginning to save money for future projects. If voters prove to be in favor of the idea following the polling, council could impose the tax, which is typically 1, 2 or 3 cents per $100 of assessment, said Bruce Padula, borough attorney. A 1-cent tax on a $700,000 property would cost $70 a year.
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| Photo via Asbury Park Press Veterans Memorial Park in Beach Haven is protected by the state's Green Acres Program. |
“It seems to me that it’s a very small tax, and that money would be specified only for either increasing our Green Acres or improving the Green Acres we have,” Mayor Nancy Taggart Davis stated at a public meeting Wednesday, Feb. 17.
The advantage of having this money, she said, is that the town could potentially have the necessary funds to purchase other properties that become available, such as the old Coast Guard station on the bay on Pelham Avenue.
The building was deeded to the borough for $1 in 2005 with restrictions from the General Services Administration that it be used only as the town’s temporary emergency operations center, Borough Clerk Sherry Mason explained after the meeting. She said town officials have approached the GSA about buying out the deed restrictions so the town could use the property for other purposes. But they were told it would be sold at fair market value, which she said “we can’t afford.”
“They’re not going to let us buy out the deed restrictions for anything less than fair market value. This is sitting on the most valuable property in the borough almost,” Mason stated. “If we have an open space trust and we’re collecting the tax for that, not only are we eligible for grants, but we’re eligible for a discounted purchase price. So there are a lot of benefits to that,” she added.
Councilman Robert Keeler told the public that he thinks the town raises taxes enough as it is.
“I’m not for any new taxes, but you can see what happens,” he stated, referencing Ship Bottom’s ongoing battle to save Long Beach Island Grade School from development. “If towns do not have an accessible rate of cash, which nobody really does unless they plan like Nancy wants to do with this, you lose the option of controlling a space. All the other parks we have in town are Green Acres. They can’t be developed; they can’t be turned into houses.”
Barnegat Light has been taxing for Green Acres since the 1990s, which ultimately allowed the town to purchase its former Coast Guard housing facility when it became available, Taggart Davis said.
“If they hadn’t been taxing for Green Acres, they wouldn’t have had the amount of money to be able to put a down payment on that property,” she noted.
When these types of situations arise, a town has to be able to act quickly. Barnegat Light had to come up with $300,000 in order to be in the bid process on a $3 million property, Keeler said.
“In one way it’s paying ahead to get us in the game, so it gives us a financial edge up front just in case,” he stated.
Beach Haven resident Jeff Wells believes the tax for the parks is being mixed up with purchasing the station, which he thinks the town should go to bond for if it goes up for sale.
“You have so many expenditures you need to put into your parks,” he stated. “I’d hate to see us put something out to the public that says, ‘Hey, let’s put some money into the parks, but what we’re really doing is putting a cash reserve aside to buy this property. This really needs to be saved; there’s no doubt we should try to do that. That is a different situation altogether, though.”
Following the meeting, the mayor said there is no discussion of the building going up for sale in the near future, especially while borough officials are working there.
“At this moment in time, I don’t think there’s even any discussion of that until we move into our new borough hall, which is going to be awhile,” Taggart Davis stated.
She noted the borough’s lease would not be terminated unless the town uses it for purposes other than emergency management, or if Beach Haven does not maintain it.
The mayor told the public that what the town would do with the tax money is dependent upon “what is available and what you want to do at that time.” She said the borough may not have the money to purchase the station by the time it goes up for sale, but she hopes to get the process started before her term as mayor is up.
“One of the things that the government would like every town on the waterfront to have is a place for people to access the bay, and we have access to the bay here,” Taggart Davis stated.
The money does not have to be used just to buy more Green Acres space, however. It could also be utilized to improve the parks and make them more user-friendly, the mayor noted, adding that a “very active” master plan committee has put a lot of thought into the town’s parks, “which could really beautify Beach Haven.”
“This would give us the money,” she said. “We wouldn’t get it all at once. It’s a slow process, but over time it would give us a lot of flexibility.”
Resident John Harvey, who said he is “all for” the tax, asked officials to examine the effect it would have on seniors living on a fixed income.
“Seventy dollars doesn’t seem like a lot, but I know there are a lot of fixed-income people and $70 is pretty significant,” he stated. “If there’s a way to skew that where there’s a senior discount or a pass on that, because they may not be around in 20 years to benefit from that, that would be something to consider.”
If council decides it is not a good idea, and people do not want to pay the tax, it can be rescinded, Taggart Davis said.
“Once we do this, we don’t have to do it forever,” she stated.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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