EMERSON—The Borough Council decided to move forward, April 19, with a proposed November referendum to ask taxpayers to create a municipal Open Space Trust Fund that will impose a small tax on homeowners to help raise funds mostly to acquire and preserve open space.
While no tax amount was set, Administrator Rob Hermansen said that the amount could range .025 of a cent per $100 of assessed property value up to 1 cent per $100 of assessed value.
For example, on a home assessed at $400,000, an Open Space tax of .01 per $100 of assessed value would equal $40 yearly. The council must first approve whatever Open Space Fund tax amount is put on the ballot.
The average Emerson home is assessed at $443,000. A one cent per $100 of assessed value Open Space tax would be $44.30 yearly, or about $3.70 per month, according to unofficial tallies.
“Really the people of Emerson will decide this, not us,” said Mayor Danielle DiPaola, after the council vote.
DiPaola recommended the council move forward on the referendum now to get in the required paperwork to put the public question on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot.
In addition to acquiring and preserving open space, the local Open Space monies raised could be used as matching funds for county, state and federal Open Space or similar grant funding. Often, county and state Open Space and Green Acres funds require a 50% local funds match.
Moreover, the funds can also be used for passive recreation, conservation, farmland preservation and historic preservation purposes.
In the November 2021 General Election, both Woodcliff Lake and Park Ridge approved municipal Open Space Trust Funds.
DiPaola said having local Open Space funds would help the borough to offset the costs needed to match other grant funds. She asked Hermansen and Borough Attorney John McCann to put together an Open Space ballot referendum question for the mayor and council to review.
Former Councilman Ken Hoffman questioned whether the ballot referendum was a binding or non-binding vote on council. He noted that in some cases where a close vote was held, and the Open Space fund lost, the council still went ahead and implemented an Open Space Trust Fund.
DiPaola noted the council would discuss the ballot referendum again when the Open Space ballot question is presented and a final tax cost is selected.
Last November, 70% of Woodcliff Lake voters favored a municipal Open Space Trust Fund while in Park Ridge, 84% of voters approved the fund
The average Woodcliff Lake homeowner pays $76 yearly. An average Park Ridge homeowner was estimated to pay $30 to $35 per year, officials said.