Two issues relating to West Windsor’s open space tax will be decided by a referendum vote on election day in November. But voters may be forced to pass the referendum because both items of legislation will be bundled into one question.
Officials believe voters will pass the referendum lowering the amount of open space tax placed upon residents, from 5 cents per $100 of assessed property value to 3 cents. “It doesn’t matter where we set the tax, it will pass,” said Councilman Charles Morgan at a council meeting. “We have the voters over a barrel.”
If the referendum were to get voted down, it would mean an increase in property taxes. The referendum will be discussed at the council meeting on Monday, July 17, at 7 p.m.
The other issue that will be decided by the vote is a change in the amount of open space funds allotted for maintenance and development of preserved open space. Currently, the township can spend up to 10 percent maintaining and developing open space holdings, with the rest of the money designated for purchase of preserved property. If the draft resolution remains as written, voters will be asked to approve an increase in maintenance allotment to up to 25 percent.
Helen Rancan, president of Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS), sent a letter to the editor detailing the organization’s position on the upcoming referendum for adjustments to the township’s Open Space Tax. Wrote Rancan: “FOWWOS supports an overall reduction of the open space tax from 5 to 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value, since this new level is similar in revenue production to that which was supported by the citizens. However, we oppose any increase in the development and maintenance cap beyond that which was contained in the two previous referendums, namely 10 percent.””
Rancan believes that an increase in the maintenance amount will damage the township’s ability to buy more land in the future, both by draining reserves and by limiting the amount of grants that will be given to the township by the state and by private donors.
Voters who agree with Rancan will have no choice but to vote for the increased allotment if they also support the tax reduction.
Township Attorney Michael Herbert said, “Going back to 1998, we have had the tax amount and the maintenance allocation in one referendum.”
Precedent is not the only reason Herbert gives for the current structure of the proposed vote. Clarity is another. “The second issue is contingent on the first. I don’t know how we could separate it.”
Herbert says since the amount of the allocation is a percentage, and therefore tied to the amount of the total tax, it would be impossible to structure the referendum as two votes. The question of the tax rate would have to be posed first, and the question of the allotment would have to be divided according to the voter’s first answer, as in, “IF you voted yes to lowering the tax, do you support raising the maintenance?”
Herbert says there is no precedent for that type of vote in West Windsor. Adds Council Member Charles Morgan: “I’m of the impression that we can only have a single question. We have to decide, we have to cut the baby in half and decide what is the best question to put before the voters.”
