By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – The borough council has approved a lease extension with the Red Bank Board of Education (BOE) for Count Basie Fields and Park. The agreement, unanimously approved at the March 27 council meeting, extends municipal use of the BOE-owned park through Dec. 31, 2050, a move that secures long-term funding for community recreational improvements.
According to the latest agreement, the borough will pay the BOE $25,000, due on or before Aug. 1 every year.
According to the approved resolution, the original lease between the borough and BOE dates back to 1978 and has been amended three times. The most recent amendment allows the borough to satisfy certain state requirements to access funding from the Monmouth County Municipal Open Space Grant program and the New Jersey Green Acres Program for improvements to Count Basie Field and Park.
According to discussions during borough council meetings last year, the borough had previously applied twice to secure funding from the state’s Green Acres program to make several improvements at Count Basie Field, particularly replacing the old home-side bleachers, but both applications were denied. State officials had indicated that approval for the Green Acres program would be contingent on extending the borough’s lease with the BOE, which ran until 2035, for an additional 25 years.
“I think Count Basie Fields is the heart of our community,” said Jared Rumage, superintendent of Red Bank Borough Public Schools, who thanked the council for the lease agreement, adding he hoped the partnership will “maintain that integral resource for the community.”
“I think that we really came to a good common ground, which is only helping us to move forward with our bleacher project at Count Basie,” borough administrator Jim Gant said.
Last year, the council allocated $723,000 in bonds to fund the replacement of the aging bleachers and press box at Count Basie Fields, originally constructed in the 1930s. The borough plans to cover the remaining cost of the $1.1 million project through a grant application submitted to the state’s Green Acres program.
The article originally appeared in the April 10 – 16, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
