additional 1 cent to be
placed on November ballot
Referendum seeking an
additional 1 cent to be
placed on November ballot
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer
HOWELL — Voters approved a special open space assessment nearly five years ago and officials here are hoping they’ll say yes again this year.
The Township Council has directed Bruce Davis, the township’s manager, to draw up a resolution in time to place a referendum question on the November ballot. The referendum would seek voter approval to raise Howell’s open space assessment from 1 to 2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
At present, the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 pays $15 annually into a fund the town uses in its pursuit of open space acquisition. If the ballot question is approved and the open space tax goes to 2 cents, the annual payment for the owner of that house assessed at $150,000 will double to $30.
The issue was raised at a recent Township Council meeting by John Costigan of Birdsall Road, who is chairman of the town’s Preservation Task Force, a committee dedicated to protecting Howell farms from development.
"We need to get out and sell this — we can’t fall short on this," Councilman Juan Malave said.
With $1 million "give or take in the open space coffers," Councilman Joseph M. DiBella said the additional funding was "a terrific idea."
Costigan is a farmer with 11 acres on Birdsall Road. For years he actively lobbied for open space and farmland preservation.
It was his efforts that got the Monmouth County Agricultural Development Board to lower the acreage requirement for farms in the preservation program from at least 25 acres to 6 acres, thus allowing towns such as Howell, which has a lot of small farms, to be eligible for county and state land preservation funding and grants.
According to Costigan, the state’s planning incentive grant was begun in 1999. The grant relaxed the preservation parameters regarding soil and property size, making those two factors incidental to the rankings, he said.
Currently, there are two township farms already approved and included in the farmland preservation program. One is the Meade farm, a 60-plus-acre parcel on Howell Road which, according to Costigan, was the first farm in Monmouth County to be approved in the mid-1980s for the farmland preservation program.
The other is the Merrick farm, another60-plus-acre parcel located on Merrick Road, which was accepted into the program in 2001.
Costigan is passionate about land preservation in Howell and sees farmland as a dwindling natural resource that can be preserved if officials take action. Any farm that is not preserved runs the risk of being residentially developed, he said.
"It’s open space we can never get back," Costigan said.
By entering the program, the farmer receives the difference between what another farmer would pay for the land and what a residential developer would pay, Costigan said.
He told the Township Council he had decided in March to "take the bull by the horns" and actively pursue farmers for participation.
Costigan said one of the factors that determines how much funding a municipality will receive is how much the town has invested toward the effort.
Under the state-developed point system, a town can increase its chance of receiving funding by making at least a 15 percent contribution toward each farm’s purchase.
Aside from actively supporting land acquisition, other factors considered in the point system can include soil quality, property size and the property’s proximity to other farmland.
Also, he said, a publicly approved voter referendum is looked upon favorably by state officials when deciding what towns will receive funding.
"I can’t emphasize to people enough the importance of preserving our remaining open space," Costigan said.
He said that if the rural charm that keeps lifelong residents here and draws so many others to Howell is to be maintained, the new 1-cent initiative is a price voters must be willing to pay.
Voters in 1999 approved the initial 1-cent open space assessment that is part of a property owner’s annual tax bill.
"One way to cut the tax burden is to preserve open space," Costigan said. "If we can keep open space and working farms and farmers paying taxes — it’s a no-brainer."
He told the mayor and council that by voting to preserve open space, taxpayers would be "spending a few cents in one hand, but saving a whole lot of dollars in the other."
Mayor Timothy J. Konopka said it would be "money well used — we’ll get a lot from it."
If a farm is deemed eligible, a municipality can receive 60 percent from the state and 40 percent from the county toward the purchase price.
Since January, four township farms, totaling more than 100 acres, have signed option agreements and appraisals have begun. So far, more than 500 acres of township farmland is enrolled in the program.
Costigan said the extra 1 cent is needed to cover these additional entries into the program.
There is about $800,000 in the township’s land preservation fund, which is already earmarked for previous entries in the program, Costigan said.
Dan Mott of the state’s Agriculture Development Committee has attended Howell’s preservation meetings since last summer, Costigan said. He said Mott was so impressed with Howell’s ongoing efforts that he is using Howell as a template to develop the program elsewhere in the state.
In order to start educating the community on the proposal, the open space initiative is expected to be included in the next issue of the township’s newsletter, the Howell Messenger.