With successful fund
about to run out, officials
disagree over new source
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer
Gov. Jon Corzine’s opposition to the use of bonds to refund the Garden State Preservation Trust (GPST) has elicited howls of protest from both legislators and civic groups across the state.
At issue is legislation that would have created a referendum asking voters if they wanted to continue funding the GPST, which drives various open space and historic preservation programs throughout New Jersey. Corzine has made moves to kill the measure before it can reach the voters. At the moment, the fund is set to run out by the end of this year. Voter approval of the measure would set aside $150 million in sales tax revenue annually to pay off bonds used in making open space and historic preservation purchases.
While both the governor and the Legislature agree that the state needs to continue its efforts to preserve land from development, a deep divide between the two has emerged over how, exactly, this should be done.
Many members of the Legislature, both Republican and Democrat, have come out in support of using bonds to pay off open space purchases, pointing to what they view as the current program’s successes as evidence. Since the fund was renewed through a 1999 referendum, thousands of acres of open space have been preserved, which supporters say improves quality of life, controls pollution and mitigates the overcrowding that often accompanies development.
“[It is] the most successful program in the whole country as it relates to preservation. … Democrat or Republican, everyone is enhanced by this program, and I can think of no better way to spend the state’s resources,” said Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), who was a prime sponsor of the legislation.
The program that is set to expire works similarly to the proposed one, drawing on $98 million in sales tax revenue each year to pay off bonds used in open space purchases. This fund itself is not so much running out of money, since the appropriations will continue for another 20 years, but by 2008, all of the capital coming in will go entirely toward paying off debts, with none going to new purchases. The latest measure, if approved by voters, would operate in much the same fashion, with 10 years being devoted to financing programs and 20 years to paying off debt.
Loathe to add to the state’s already multibillion-dollar debt load, the governor has reportedly expressed, in no uncertain terms, that while he supports the principle behind preserving open space, he does not think bonding is an appropriate way to finance it. When the first fund is set to run out, the state will have $1.15 billion to pay off, according to Ralph Siegel, executive director of the GSPT. By the time the second program runs out, it would leave behind $1.75 billion in debt.
With this in mind, Corzine and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden/Gloucester) worked out a deal that would effectively kill the legislation before it reaches the voters for referendum. In its place, the governor will put $30 million into the program as a stop-gap measure while he considers alternate funding options.
Many assume that alternate funding options means the sale or lease of state assets like the lottery or turnpike. This move, on which Corzine has staked much of his plan to address the state’s ever-increasing debt, has proven to be generally unpopular, and Assembly Republicans have likened moves to link the fund to it as tantamount to blackmail.
“It is a program that has yet to be explained, has yet to be debated, has yet to be discussed, and there’s certainly a significant number of us who have very, very important questions about this proposal. They tell us we’re not going to do a renewal [because of] a program no one understands, for a proposal yet to be made in a debate that is yet to be had. … We can’t be told, let’s wait until we debate a proposal we haven’t seen before we save [open space],” said Assemblyman Bill Baroni.
If an asset monetization program were discussed and enacted tomorrow, there would still be at least a year in which the fund would have $80 million to operate, the current balance plus the $30 million that will be put in. It is in the course of this year, however, that Corzine hopes to fully flesh out alternate ways to breathe new life into the GSPT without putting the state into more debt.
Supporters of the referendum expressed feelings that preservation efforts in New Jersey cannot wait another year for Corzine to decide what to do, however. McKeon noted that the balance the Corzine plan would leave the fund would be dwarfed by the large number of requests made of it, and warned that developers would seize on the opportunity to start new projects while ignoring redevelopment in old sectors.
“If you go ahead as a developer, [if] the money won’t be there to preserve land, you can move in to develop a new place and that much less won’t go to an old place for redevelopment,” said McKeon, adding that uncontrolled development can overburden local infrastructure.
Time is of the essence
Legislators know that if they wish to pose the funding question to voters this November, they must act quickly. If a compromise cannot be worked out before the
Legislature recesses for the summer, the bill’s fate is sealed, and a year would need to pass before another attempt could be made. This, to McKeon, is a risky prospect.
According to the assemblyman, it’s impossible to know what the political environment will be after November, the yearlong delay making the future of the program itself uncertain. Despite open space programs’ popularity throughout the state, he noted that politics can be fickle.
He also said that the governor has expressed an interest in putting the funding question on the ballot in the following year anyway, which confuses McKeon as he wonders what difference a year will really make for Corzine.
“The governor has gone on record as saying we’ll put it to the ballot next year, so what’s the difference other than deferring it a year and leaving a gap in a very important program. So who knows as to the political climate as we get into the post-November legislative session,” said McKeon.
Another criticism of Corzine’s actions comes from the feelings that power has been taken out of the hands of ordinary voters, with whom the program has proven to be very popular. Jeff Titel, New Jersey Sierra Club chapter executive director, also pointed out that Corzine had previously expressed a desire to see the GPST refunded through a referendum and demanded he honor previous agreements in a statement.
Despite a large amount of spending for the program, demand for preservation still outstrips the funding available year after year. Hope Gruzlovic, a spokesperson for the state Department of Agriculture, said that the Farmland Preservation program is able to fund about 55 percent of the total requests for the fiscal year. Meanwhile, Green Acres, overseen by the Department of Environmental Protection, has an even larger ratio of requests to funding. In 2006 alone, the program was able to fund $65,148,835 out of $391,594,850 worth of requests. Other years yield similar ratios.
South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese said that if the GPST were not funded again, his town’s efforts would certainly be hobbled.
“You need state help in a lot of these purchases and we only have so much in our trust fund. … I don’t believe we can [step up preservation efforts at a local level] financially at this point,” said Gambatese. “The financial position of the state probably dictates him to do that, but at the current time, when other towns are trying to protect the land they have, it hurts.”
At the moment, lawmakers are working overtime to try and reach some sort of compromise before the current legislative session ends, though McKeon admitted that if Corzine refuses to alter his stance, there is little that can really be done. Right now, supporters of the referendum are trying to work the only option that is available to them: trying to persuade the governor to change his mind. McKeon said that a compromise deal in the Senate is also being worked on, but again stressed the importance of making sure the program gets funded.
“We’ve got to walk the walk here, and to put this program at risk takes a very vital cog out of the whole ability for New Jersey, for the next generation, to be the kind of place where people want to live and do business,” said McKeon.
Calls to Governor Corzine’s office were not returned.