Open space holds up budget adoption

By: Eve Collins
   CHESTERFIELD — The Township Committee delayed adoption of its 2003 budget April 10 to add an amendment that sets aside $25,000 for open space, said officials.
   The amendment will not affect the tax rate, said Township Clerk Bonnie Haines.
   In order to apply for Green Acres funding, the township was required to create an inventory of open space and must set aside money for open space each year.
   The township had not included the money for open space when initially formulating the budget, said Ms. Haines.
   A public hearing on the amendment will be held at 7:30 p.m. May 8 in the municipal building.
Under the proposed $2.1 million budget, the local purpose tax rate would remain at 9.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Under that rate, the owner of a home assessed at the township average, $207,000, would pay $198.72 in municipal purpose taxes.
   The tax rate has risen from 8.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2000 to 9.6 cents. Taxpayers will responsible for $233,709 in support of the municipal budget.
   The amendment is required because the township is applying for the state Green Acres Site Specific Planning Incentive Program, said Ms. Haines.
   Last year the Township Committee applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres program for partial funding for 23 acres of the 27.5-acre site in the receiving area of the township where a new school will be built if voters approve a $18 million referendum this fall.
   Under the township’s Transfer of Development Rights program, the owners of land in a township sending area can sell the development rights of their property to a developer. That developer would be able to build in the township’s receiving area, in the northwest portion of town.
   The land would be used for athletic and recreation fields that would be open to the public when they were not in use by the school.