BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer
EATONTOWN – Residents of Fieldstone Court spoke out at last week’s Borough Council meeting against the mayor’s plan to sell two acres of borough-owned property at the end of their cul-de-sac.
Mayor Gerald Tarantolo proposed the sale of the property at the March 7 council workshop meeting as a way to offset the 5.8 cents per $100 of assessed property value tax-rate increase facing the borough this year.
Tarantolo said that as a result of the re-evaluation the borough went through last year, there were numerous appeals by property owners.
A number of the appeals were successful, according to Tarantolo, and the ratable base decreased by $140 million as a result.
“The council agreed,” he said, “though not unanimously, that this would be a good idea to try to help taxpayers.”
Tarantolo said that although the sale of the land would only help in this year’s budget, the added property to the tax base would help in years to come.
Diane Wellington, Fieldstone Court, told the council that she would prefer the property to stay as it is.
“I would like to see the preservation of the wildlife there,” she said. “I read that it is going to be sold to help the tax rate. How much will it really help?”
Tarantolo said the decrease in the tax rate due to the proposed sale of the property would probably be nominal.
Wellington said that despite statements to the contrary by Tarantolo, the addition of two families to the borough will impact the school system.
Councilman Theodore Lewis disagreed.
“The addition of four children to the schools would not require another teacher to be hired,” he said. “The real issue is that the land serves no municipal purpose as it is now. It serves no benefit to the residents except those who live right next to it.”
Lewis said that it may be possible to transform the property into a public park, but that it would then be open to all of the public, but Wellington said that she didn’t like that proposal much either.
“So you don’t want other taxpayers to use it,” Lewis said, “but you don’t want it to be sold.”
Wellington said she would rather see a public park than two houses.
Councilwoman Kristine Fisher said the land is now a liability for the borough, and Lewis said the borough pays about $20,000 for insurance for the land.
Jacqueline Arnone, also a resident of Fieldstone Court, said she would rather see a park at the end of the street than two houses.
“I’ve lived there as an owner for 14 years,” she said, “not counting the years I lived there as a kid with my parents. I would be open to letting anybody from Eatontown come to the park. I can’t imagine hoards of people coming to that park. We should just keep it the way it is. Let the wildlife stay. Let the flora and fauna stay. Let it be what it is.”
Tarantolo said the borough currently has 6 percent of its land dedicated to open space, when most other municipalities have between 2 and 3 percent.
Lewis suggested that if the residents of Fieldstone Court want to join together to purchase the property from the borough, that was always an option.
“If we could afford it,” said Arnone, “believe me, we’d all chip in.”
Councilwoman Joyce Englehart continued to voice her objections to Tarantolo’s rationale that selling the land would provide relief to those residents who have to take out loans against their homes to pay their property taxes.
“If you were going to take that money and give it to senior people who are having trouble paying their taxes,” she said, “I’d be the first one to vote for it. I know you can’t do that, but selling this property is not going to do anything at all.”
Lewis said that he will ask the Parks and Recreation Committee to look into the feasibility of making the property into a public park.