JACKSON – A resident questioned whether proper environmental evaluations were being conducted prior to land development approvals and another resident complained about increases in their third quarter tax bill during a recent council meeting.
Township resident Adam Haidi came to the microphone to speak about wildlife in Jackson. “I am a professional molecular scientist. I worked in the research and development industry for the last five or six years professionally.”
Speaking from a biological standpoint he asked council members if they could name “a single endangered species that’s home to New Jersey let alone Jackson?”
“I know the snakes in the Pinelands,” answered Council President Jennifer Kuhn.
“There is myriads of species native to our town that are endangered, concerned, threatened and also federally protected. There are federal environmental laws that mandate that we do proper screenings, ecological assessments when we go and develop,” he added noting the need to check for animals and plant species in habitats being considered for development in the township.
Haidi brought up, “this waste management facility that you are getting ready to create, do we not have a plan to create a waste water management facility? With all these approved developments is there a process where we assess and survey the land to make sure because legally, we have to, granted it is a private company right?”
He questioned if the environmental research reports on such sites would be made public prior to any voting approvals on the projects being built. “I want to make sure our town is doing the proper environmental things.” He also noted traffic areas and the need for more speed bumps.
Kuhn responded that getting speed bumps approved “is not that easy. When we get requests, we send them to Traffic Safety and the township engineer who evaluates it and he tells us if we can or we can’t.”
“On every single road it depends on what the issue is,” Council Vice President Mordechai Burnstein stated. “We are doing speed calming measures on Pitney Lane. We’re striping the road.”
“I’m speaking about places like Frank Applegate (Road) about places where we have wildlife refuges like Lake Eno which is a huge wildlife refuge. The butterfly bog, where there are obliterated deer, goose, swans. Have you not looked around our town and just seen dead animals everywhere?” the resident asked.
“We’re council. We’re not the planning board or the zoning board,” Kuhn responded noting that approving development sites generally fell to those review panels.
Councilman Ken Bressi expressed later in the meeting that the township Environmental Committee makes environmental recommendations to those boards.
Estimated Tax Bills
Resident Jim Seleia told the council that his “taxes are going up almost $500 on August 1 when in November I received from the planner, who did the assessment values said in a year you will probably go up about $400. Now I’m going up $500 in one quarter.”
The township is finalizing its municipal budget late this year. The municipal website has information concerning third quarter tax bills noting that in New Jersey, municipal budgets often aren’t finalized by the third quarter (July 1–September 30) due to either delays in state aid figures, budget hearings and revisions, or the approval processes by the Council and the Division of Local Government Services (DLGS).
As the municipal tax rate (which is needed to produce final tax bills) can’t be calculated until the full budget is adopted and certified, the township must estimate the tax bill to keep essential services funded and state statute requires municipalities to issue estimated tax bills when a final tax rate isn’t available in time for the third quarter.
Estimated bills are usually calculated based on a percentage of the prior year’s total tax levy (i.e., the total amount of taxes raised for municipal, school, and county purposes). Communities can also factor in any known or already adopted levies, such as school district budgets, fire district budgets, county taxes or any state-approved changes. The estimate is then applied to the updated assessed value of each property, especially if a revaluation or reassessment has taken place. If your property was revalued higher, your tax bill increases proportionally – even if the tax rate has not changed.
Some residents may see a large increase in their third quarter especially in a revaluation year, when a home’s assessed value may increase significantly. Open Space taxes, fire district levies, and other fixed-rate taxes may also rise in dollar amount due to the higher assessed value, even if the rate itself stays constant.
A website message states that the municipality isn’t overcharging intentionally – it’s a state-mandated process designed to ensure ongoing public service funding.
Police Promotions
Council members congratulated members of the township Police Department who were promoted during the meeting. Sgt. Robert Rieff Jr. was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, Sgt. John Rodriguez to the rank of lieutenant, Officer Ryan Gladysz to the rank of sergeant and Officer John Roth III to the rank of sergeant.
