By Christopher Sacco
NORTH HANOVER Township voters will have a referendum on their Nov. 2 election ballot that would lower their open space tax from 7 cents to 5.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
The measure was placed on the ballot Aug. 31 by the Township Committee.
The average decrease in annual property taxes for residents would be $27, a figure based on the $177,000 average home value for North Hanover Township.
Committeeman Mike Moscatiello said the referendum was necessary due to the current financial situation of both the township and the state.
”Now that the economy has changed,” he said, “we need to change with it.”
Of Burlington County’s 40 municipalities, 18 have an open space tax, the main function of which is to preserve farmland in the county. Only Mount Laurel’s 8-cent tax rate is higher than North Hanover’s current 7-cent rate.
Despite the proposed decrease, Mr. Moscatiello said, there would not be any decline in the services the program offers to the 24 properties and more than 3,000 acres of land that have been preserved so far.
He commended the management of the open space program and said North Hanover isn’t nearly as strapped as other municipalities and is in a comfortable position that allows it to begin paying off its debt.
In regards to the possibility of increasing the open space tax in the future, Mr. Moscatiello said it would depend on the condition of the “difficult economic environment,” but if it’s realistic, the committee will reach out to the public just as it did six years ago.
He says that the Township Committee tends to revisit issues such as this every five years.

