By JF Grodeska
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – In 1999, the voters of Atlantic Highlands approved a special dedicated municipal tax of $0.01 per $100 of assessed real estate value to fund an open space program. The borough uses that money to purchase and maintain properties as open space and for recreational functions.
Ordinance 9-99 established the dedicated special municipal tax and the Municipal Open Space, Recreational and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund to retain the funds and finance the procurement and maintenance of properties.
The borough began collecting the tax in 2000; according to Mayor Lori Hohenleitner, the current balance in the Open Space Fund is $396,179.70.
The borough now has the opportunity to acquire and maintain additional properties, prompting the council to pass an ordinance authorizing a new referendum this November, asking voters to decide whether the Open Space municipal tax should rise to $0.02 per $100 of assessed value.
According to Ordinance 16-2024, adopted at the July 11 council meeting, the increase would double the tax levy in 2025. A home valued at “$621,362.00 would pay up to $124.27 per year” for the Open Space designated municipal tax, twice that of the 2024 tax levy of $62.13.
Hohenleitner said she doesn’t know if the tax needs to increase but wants to give residents the opportunity to voice their opinion.
“We’re just asking the voters if they would like us to do this and the statement that will go along with it will be carefully crafted to talk about the existing open space, the possible acquisition of open space,” she said. Hohenleitner said the council is “thinking of the future” and the additional open space the borough will acquire through a land donation from Denholtz Properties when the developer completes the Brant Point project along the borough’s water front.
“We’ve been working on it for a very long time,” she said.
“We want to make sure that when we acquire the space, that we are able to handle it.”
Ordinance 16-2024 authorizing the referendum was adopted 4-1, with council member James Murphy the sole dissenting vote. Council member Jon Crowley was not at the meeting. Also during the council meeting, Douglas Rohmeyer, the borough engineer, outlined the solicitation of bids for the next phase of the 2024 D.O.T. Municipal Road Improvement Project. Improvements will be made to Hill Road and Avenue B, and drainage improvements will be made at the three-way intersection of Prospect, Hilton and Bayside. The project is partially funded by Department of Transportation grants totaling $261,000.
The article originally appeared in the July 25 – July 31, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
