Ballot question asks to extend county tax

By: Cara Latham
   Burlington County voters who are heading to the polls Nov. 7 will decide whether or not to extend the county’s dedicated tax levy for farmland preservation and open space until 2036.
   The ballot question, approved by the Burlington County freeholders, will ask voters if they wish to extend the levy of 4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for farmland and open space preservation until the new sunset, or maturity date, of 2036.
   "We’ve had a very successful farmland and open space program," said Ralph Shrom, freeholder spokesman. "However, real estate values have increased quite a bit in the past few years. The cost of preserving farmland has really tripled," he said, adding that it has gone from an average of $3,500 an acre to about $10,500 an acre.
   Mr. Shrom said 2 cents of the tax levy will expire in 2011, and the other 2 cents will run out in 2018, "but we’ve already seen the financial analysis and we realize it would be very difficult to acquire all the property we want to acquire and preserve the land we hope to preserve, and meet those goals."
   The fund set aside for the preservation efforts by the county has "been tapped very heavily," and county officials fear there may not be enough resources to continue with future goals, he said.
   "Our Master Plan talks about creating nine regional parks," he said. "So far we’ve created five of those, so we still have four more to go. In addition, we’re hoping to acquire another 3,000 acres" to go toward the county’s park system, and another 15,000 acres in farm land.
   One project being planned is the purchase of a 640-acre sod farm in Springfield off Route 206, which will be the future home of the Burlington County Farm Fair, said Mr. Shrom.
   "Only about 50 to 70 acres will be actively used" and developed into an area for the fair, he said. Most of the 640 acres will "remain in its natural state" and be used for hiking and biking trails, he said.
   The county freeholders announced last month that Burlington County has moved up in the ranks for farmland preservation, jumping from ninth to sixth place in the nation, according to The Farmland Preservation Report. The report stated that 4,778 acres were gained last year, for a total of 46,136 preserved throughout the county.
   Mr. Shrom said the designation was a huge accomplishment.
   "Our program has really become a prototype," he said. "We’ve had folks from other states out to visit Burlington County to visit our farmland and visit what we’ve done."