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Trustees debate township farmland-preservation referendum, warn of $370/year tax impact
Summary
Board members and the superintendent debated a proposed Colts Neck referendum to fund farmland preservation, with administration and trustees warning the measure could cost residents about $370 per year and give Monmouth County majority control of preserved land funds.
The Colts Neck Township Board of Education spent a large portion of its July 22 meeting discussing a township proposal to place a farmland-preservation referendum on the November ballot and alternative plans presented by a local Affordable Housing Alliance.
Board President Angelique Bowlby recapped the township presentation and the proposed project on Aubrey Court, which she said would include roughly 212 units. Trustee Rob Scales, who attended the township committee meeting, told the board the referendum would introduce "a $370 per year tax increase" for residents if approved and cautioned that Monmouth County would control 75% of the preservation fund, leaving Colts Neck with only 25% of the decision-making power.
Scales said the county's role matters because the county would hold deed restrictions and could make choices without Colts Neck's majority input. "You basically, for Colts Neck taxpayers, ask yourself: Do you want to pony up x dollars so that Monmouth County can vote on your behalf?" he said.
Trustees debated whether a referendum would actually reduce the town's state-mandated affordable-housing obligation; several members said it would not. The board also heard about an alternate plan from the Colts Neck Affordable Housing Alliance that would ask farmers to sell an acre for development and subdivide that acre into multiple affordable units — a proposal trustees said could produce guaranteed 100% affordable housing under certain designs.
While members voiced concern about higher taxes for seniors and the long-term fiscal impact on school resources, they also urged residents and farmers to engage in the public process. The board did not take formal action on the referendum at the July 22 meeting; trustees encouraged continued public outreach and said they would monitor the town committee's next steps.
