Open space tax question Q&A will be placed on website
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Township leaders say they will release a fact sheet of answers to frequently asked questions about the township’s Nov. 5 ballot question on the open space tax.
Township voters must decide yes or no on a proposal to allow up to 20 percent annually from the township’s fund to buy recreation, farmland and open space to be used for recreational “development or improvement” of lands identified in the township’s recreation and open space inventory.
The tax raises about $1.5 million per year, so 20 percent would equal about $300,000 per year, which could accumulate. An “average” house assessed at about $350,000 pays about $100 into the township’s open space fund.
Deputy Mayor Doug Tomson said Tuesday that a committee of elected officials, department heads and citizen leaders of open space and recreation advisory committees have worked to develop the questions and answers on an information sheet. He said they worked as hard as possible to be neutral and provide information without influencing. The township attorney was reviewing the document, he said.
He said the information — about 10 questions, with a total length of no more than two typewritten pages — would be posted on the township web site and e-mailed to the subscribers of the mayor’s e-newsletter, which is usually sent out on Fridays. There was no mention of any mass mailing.
Mr. Tomson said he was motivated by reading letters in newspapers and online, and by attending public forums organized by opponents. He said “there was too much confusion on this issue.”
Mr. Tomson said the resolution “further solidifies the Township Committee’s commitment to thoughtful consideration of how to proceed with respect to the open space inventory.”
Mr. Tomson told a meeting of referendum opponents Monday about the impending release. He attended a meeting held by a group called the Friends of Hillsborough Open Space.
FOHOS calls itself a non-partisan group. Monday’s forum again emphasized the urgency of saving land now.
”As long as we have land to buy, we should buy it,” said Thuy Anh Le, one of the FOHOS leaders.
Caroline Katmann, a township resident and executive director of the Sourland Conservancy, said “the clock is ticking” on losing land to development. She commended Somerset County and Hillsborough, though, for preserving 48 percent of Hillsborough’s 7,500 acres on the mountain.
The Township Committee took a step Tuesday to move to seek proposals — should the referendum pass — from recreation planning firms that would survey township programs and residents to determine recreation needs and wants. The referendum question suggests no specific projects for which diverted funds would be used. The Township Committee has said it doesn’t want to spend what could be tens of thousands of dollars on such a “needs assessment” without the public’s affirmative vote on the ballot question.
At the FOHOS meeting, various members talked about the need to safeguard land for wildlife habitat, flood control, recreation and quality of life.
Speakers criticized the ballot question as criticized as vague and open ended. Jim Bergstrom said a 20 percent diversion of tax funds could mean as much as $3 million could be lost to preservation efforts over 10 years and spent on unknown projects.
”Trails and accesses don’t cost millions of dollars,” he said. “What do they want all this money for?”
Mr. Bergstrom used a township map to show that open space or parkland purchase possibilities still exist. He pointed to a 348-acre parcel behind the Hillsborough Promenade shopping center on Route 206 that is up for sale. He said its development could potentially yield thousands of residences and bring higher taxes and a deterioration of the quality of life in the township. Its preservation could protect the convergence of three branches of Royce Brook, and perhaps reduce flooding downstream in Manville, he said.
”We can’t preserve every piece of land but we want to control it,” he said.