JACKSON – Township officials and members of the municipality’s Rent Leveling Board met recently with the new owners of a development in an effort to bring equity to residents of that community.
Rent Leveling Board Chairman Joseph Sullivan told The Jackson Times that a special meeting was set up to hear a real estate pass-through application from UMH Oak Tree. UMH is a large corporate manufactured home community owner.
UMH recently purchased Oak Tree, a 55-plus community with many elderly residents on fixed incomes, which is now called UMH Oak Tree. The community is located near West Fish Road.
The Board became aware of issues ranging from the original manager assaulting a resident, to loss of amenities, and a lack of communication with the residents and the town.
Sullivan explained that in 2025, “due to a property tax revaluation required by New Jersey law to be conducted in Jackson, the monthly property tax bill has increased. Under our ordinance, property taxes are paid monthly by UMH Oak Tree residents.”
“The residents of UMH Oak Tree’s tax bill rose from $46.98 a month to $106.96,” Sullivan added noting this was more than a 100% increase. “This was partly due to the high price UMH paid for Oak Tree. That increased the property’s valuation from approximately $8 million to over $20 million.
Mayor Jennifer Kuhn reached out to UMH Regional Vice President Kyle Plunkett and was initially ignored. She then visited UMH headquarters in Freehold where she ended up speaking with Plunkett along with a UMH accountant.
Kuhn told The Jackson Times that during her meeting with Plunkett, she proposed a solution to help the residents of UMH Oak Tree. “I was not leaving until they at least sat with me which they did. It didn’t go as planned but I did make a proposal. They told me later that they would go to the higher ups and engage in another conversation with me.”
“I proposed a three-year postponement of the increase with a zero percent interest rate on the loan, I did it as a loan,” the mayor said noting she would speak with the township’s tax accessor about the situation.
She noted the company representatives had mentioned the expense involved for the improvements to that community but that they knew what was involved when they bought it. “I’m trying to save our seniors from a huge increase and when you are on Social Security, that is a lot. They did follow up with an e-mail which I felt was very positive.”
Sullivan said he had similar thoughts on how this could be addressed. His idea was to split “this one-year huge increase over four, three, or two years instead of all at once, which is an astronomical economic hit.”
The question at the special forum was does UMH have to do this? Sullivan said “no, but it wouldn’t hurt their bottom line, and they would recoup the cost over time by lending the money to residents at 0% interest.”
He noted that UMH is a billion-dollar company and that this represents a decimal on a decimal for their finances. “They not only rejected the idea but also were rude, stating they didn’t care.”
During the rent leveling meeting, UMH Oak Tree agreed to cap the rent increase for residents to no more than 5%. “It was a hard-fought concession on their part. Without the concession, the residents’ monthly rent would have increased by 10-15%,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan added, “the residents and the board were pleased with UMH’s decision. It was the intervention of the mayor and the board that made this possible. I was happy to have played a role in securing UMH’s agreement to support the residents of UMH Oak Tree.”
UMH representatives did not respond to an inquiry from The Jackson Times.
Along with its chair, the rent leveling board is also made up of Vice Chairperson Diane DiCapua and members Will Boyce. Frank Sullivan, Edward Cialkowski, Raymond Tremer, Manuela Brito, and Deborah Wankel with Alternate member 2 Efraim Zweigenhaft. Carmen Memoli is the board’s accountant while Debra Rumpf serves as the board’s attorney.
The Board was created as an Apartment and Mobile Home Park Rent Leveling Board within Jackson pursuant to the police power within state statute. The members of the Board and the alternate members shall be appointed by the mayor, with the advice and consent of the Township Council, and their terms of office shall be for a period of three years each, commencing on January 1 of the year in which they are appointed.
