By Stephen Appezzato
MIDDLETOWN – Township officials are interested in what residents have to say about increasing the open space tax levy by 33% (1 cent).
At the Aug. 19 township committee meeting, officials approved a resolution that will place a question on the November ballot, gauging support for increasing the annual collection rate for the Middletown Open Space, Recreation, Floodplain Protection, And Farmland And Historic Preservation Trust Fund.
The question will ask voters if they support raising the tax levy from 3 cents per $100 of equalized property valuation to 4 cents in order to fund additional acquisitions and “improvements to open space and parkland properties.”
If the majority of residents vote in favor of raising the tax levy, the township committee will host a public hearing to “determine the allocation of the increased proceeds to the Middletown Open Space Trust Fund.”
The fund was established in 1998, following voter approval, and originally levied 1 cent per $100 of equalized valuation. In 2002, voters approved hiking the collection rate to 2 cents; the rate increased to 3 cents in 2020. These funds contribute to park projects and land acquisitions, such as the partial exterior restoration project at the Murray Farmhouse which was approved in May, and the acquisition of the 67-acre Tretter Property, a wooded tract of land off Whipporwill Valley Road.
The article originally appeared in the August 22 – 28, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
