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Wall Township adopts voter-approved open-space tax; residents press questions about cost and surplus
Summary
The Wall Township Committee on March 26 adopted Ordinance 5-2025, putting a voter-approved open-space tax into effect; residents asked how much it will add to homeowner bills and pointed to an $8 million surplus. The committee voted 5–0 to adopt.
The Wall Township Committee on March 26 voted 5–0 to adopt Ordinance 5-2025, implementing a voter-approved increase to the township's open-space trust fund collection rate.
The clerk read the ordinance as a second-reading public hearing; during the hearing a committee member explained the tax "would increase the tax rate by 15¢ per $100 of tax, ratables" and said funds "could only be used for specific purposes such as acquiring property, bonding to acquire property, and to make some improvements on public ... township property." The committee scheduled the ordinance for immediate adoption and completed the roll-call vote with five yeas.
Residents asked how the change would affect individual homeowners. One resident asked "how much does that work out to for each homeowner?" A committee member replied, "I believe it was about 28 to $30 per, average across the town per home," and said the tax derives from a measure voters approved last November.
During public comment, another resident cited what he described as a large fund balance, saying, "we have $8,000,000 sitting in surplus right now for open space," and asked why the tax was being imposed if the township already holds significant funds. Committee members did not dispute the dollar figure during the public session and did not provide a further accounting on the record; one committee member said the ballot question and legal restrictions on open-space funds govern how the money may be used.
The ordinance text read at the meeting states the change is being implemented "in accordance with" a state statute cited during the clerk's reading. The clerk and committee did not provide a detailed written breakdown of projected homeowner impacts beyond the rough per-household estimate given on the record.
The committee also approved routine items on the consent agenda and then moved to public comment and other business before adjourning the public meeting to a private session on contract and personnel matters.
The ordinance will be posted for public inspection as required; the committee set the previously announced public hearing dates when ordinances were introduced for first reading.
