Recently Randy George, the mayor of North Haledon, made a special trip to Tuxedo, New York. Why?

"The developers promise you everything [but] as soon as they are gone, you're left holding the bag," Mayor George was quoted in the New York Times as saying. He was speaking out against a plan to build McMansions within Sterling Forest.

"Without effective planning, we are heading toward a high tax base, a relative lack of services, impossibly congested roads and school-tax revolts," Mayor George added (1).

While some local government officials may be slow to wake up to the facts, the facts are the adding to a town's ratables does not, in the long run, lower taxes. In fact, it raises them, often well beyond inflation. "The main reason why the ratables chase does not work is because of a miscalculation of the real costs" (2).

Squirrels and foxes don't go to school
The reason is simple: the trees, flora and wildlife in open space don't require municipal services. They don't need police, they don't need their paths paved, repaved or plowed, they don't have garbage to cart away, and, especially, squirrels and foxes don't go to school. After the sod has been laid and the developer's trucks have driven away, the residents of the town are left holding the bill for expansion of schools and school services, and for that, the developers don't pay-the residents do.

One need only looks at what has happened in Wyckoff in recent years. To keep up with the increase in school-age children (both actual at the time and projected) resulting from the development spurt in 1998, voters approved bond issues, financed by taxes, to add to all of the township schools. Without new development, it is unlikely there would have been any reason to expand our schools-upgrade yes, greatly expand, no.

One study of a development planned for Rockaway Township found "the town council is asking the taxpayers to subsidize development, urbanization and congestion while Green Acres offers state funds to preserve Rockaway's rural lifestyle" (3).

What are the alternatives to development?
If developments mean a net increase in taxes, plus a degradation of our community and lifestyles, why don't local officials consider alternatives? In fact, many officials do-they recognize that purchasing open space is--over the long term--a way to keep taxes low and improve our community. There are numerous sources of funding to purchase open space, which allows landowners to monetize their properties, from state, county and private sources. State and county contributions to open space purchases can double if Wyckoff contributes through its own open-space tax. An open space tax—adopted by 217 municipalities in New Jersey—typically ranges from ½ cent to one cent per $100 of property valuation. For the average home in Wyckoff, assessed at $700,000, this would mean an additional payment of $35-$70 per year. It would ultimately save us much more than $35-$70 per year in tax increases for municipal services and school costs precipitated by new development. The fact that Wyckoff has no open space tax puts us at a disadvantage when applying for funding to purchase open space. That's too bad--it will be cheaper for us to buy open space rather than to allow others to build on it, especially when the state and county finance the bulk of the bill. Click here for the Friends of Wyckoff proposal.

The benefits of open space
Open space raises property values by lowering congestion and reducing pollution-making Wyckoff a more desirable place to live. New Jersey is already the most densely populated of the 50 states. Planners estimate that by the year 2020 we won't have to worry about open space any longer-there won't be any left! That's why it's important for us to act now to preserve what is left.

Sources
(1) Information about North Haledon Mayor George is from an article in the New York Times, August 17, 2005, page B1 of the New Jersey edition. Read the full story here: http://www.fokw.org/nyt.html

• (2) Page 2 of "Know What You Are Chasing" at http://www.greatswamp.org/Education/hamilton.htm

• (3) Page 1 of "Impact of Copperas Ridge Project on Rockaway Taxpayers" at http://www.greatswamp.org/Education/hamiltonPuleo.htm

Other sources worth looking at:
"Ratables Do Not Pay Their Pay," at http://www.gsenet.org/library/12lnd/ratemyth.htm

• "Sterling Forest," letter to the editor in the New York Times, April 21, 1991, see: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4DD143FF932A15757C0A967958260

• "Group Finds Flaws with Mendham Township Tax Analysis," at http://www.gsenet.org/library/12lnd/schifrpt.php