Sell Land? Raise Taxes? Holmdel Looks For Solutions to Plug a $3M Deficit

The Holmdel Township Committee is planning to ask voters to pay more in taxes in an April referendum in order to fix a $3 million structural deficit in the 2012 budget.

 “What we are going to do is simultaneously look to go ahead with the referendum, and then possibly proceed with the ordinance selling some property -- with the mindset being if the referendum passes, the property does not have to be sold,” said Mayor Patrick Impreveduto at the Township Committee meeting. “But if it doesn’t, then we are already one step ahead in moving forward with the land sale.”

Faced with about 100 residents at the Jan. 19 meeting, many of them opposed to selling off open space, the governing body voted to table the controversial legislation permitting the potential sale of wooded lots on Plum Lane and “all, or part of” the 107-acre Cross Farm. The public hearing was put off until Feb. 2 to allow residents time to propose alternate solutions.

“If you have suggestions, please bring them to us,” said Mayor Patrick Impreveduto, in an effort to turn the tone of the evening from combative to collegial.  “If we feel they are feasible enough to get us out of this deficit, we’re there. But we believe we looked at every stone we can look under. And this is what we came up with: these land sales.”  

An unwelcome "perfect storm" had wreaked havoc on the township budget, Township Administrator Andy Katz explained. State aid, investment interest and energy receipt taxes had fallen, at the same time pension and health costs doubled. The value of Holmdel real estate had dropped, as it has nationwide, and the reassessed values now generate less taxable income -- not to mention the stinging loss of the once mighty Lucent ratable. Available surplus had been drained. And after reducing staff by 22% in two years at Town Hall, there was no one left to cut.

As described by Impreveduto, the land sales might only cover $1.8 million of the $3 million hole. The township-owned ten-acre parcel at Cross Farms, between the barns and Willow Brook Road, could be sold to an interested soccer academy for $1.2 million, he said. The township's two lots on Plum Lane could fetch $500,000 from a home builder. But more money would have to be found, and quickly, to meet the state's budget deadline in June.

To cover the $3 million deficit through taxes, the owner of a house assessed at $618,000, the township’s average, would pay an additional $480 in property taxes, according to Township Administrator Andy Katz.  Because the amount would put Holmdel’s tax levy above the state-mandated two percent cap, it would have to be approved by voters in the mid-April referendum, at the same time they vote on the school budget.

Several residents stepped up to the microphone and announced they would be willing to pay the tax hike, or at least part of it, to maintain the open space.

But resident Martin Brilliant expressed doubt any tax hike would fly. “I’m sitting there scared because I don’t know how you are going to get that referendum approved….You have three months to persuade the majority of taxpayers in Holmdel that taxes are good.”

Impreveduto said that if that is what the community wants, only “true bi-partisanship” and community unity could sell the tax hike “Maybe we’ll form a group, Save Our Land, SOL, or something, and together, go out and push this.”  The room broke out in laughter when Eric Hinds joked, ”Taking volunteers for SOL! I want more taxes. “

Others commented on the way the land sale ordinance was structured, allowing the township to sell part, or all of the 107-acre lot. Argyrios Milonas said, “I could probably live with three soccer fields on ten acres. But what troubles me is if we’re in the same place next year, you have approval to sell another ten acres without us getting together and asking us these questions. And the year after, another ten acres. That troubles me. I could not vote for something like that. Because if you sell another ten acres, I want to be here.”

Longer term solutions to raise revenue through 2015 were suggested.

Rebecca Pruitt said the township could take a second look at solar farms, unobtrusive wind turbines, even turning the area into an attractive lake that would, at the same time, solve a flooding problem, protect nesting eagles and provide money-generating recreational opportunities for the area.

Cathy Weber suggested the township find money by advertising the spare offices of Town Hall, or finding an interested party to make use of the underutilized tennis center near the Swim Club. “We haven’t put it out there.”

Kim Weigand Casola, owner of preserved farmland, said that if the township wanted to encourage commercial development to increase tax revenues, it could consider rezoning a 30-acre parcel of agricultural land on Highway 34 for retail use. “Maybe we could put in a big WaWa station, or something like that, and you can get plenty of taxpayer dollars for that.”

Tony Orsini spoke about the wooded lots at Plum Lane, calling them a "real gem" in a densely populated section of town. He called for their preservation. "I'd really like to leave some kind of legacy for our children," he said. 

High School senior Noah Rauchwerk spoke for the younger generation, telling the Committee that he and his friends appreciated Cross Farm’s serene beauty and wanted to see it kept intact.

“I’ll keep trying with my friends to think of other options,” he said.