By ROBERT LINNEHAN
Three referendum petitions were submitted to the Moorestown Township clerk on Friday, July 29, and only two were accepted. Unfortunately for three open space advocacy groups in Moorestown, they will have to resubmit their request.
Representatives from Save the Environment of Moorestown, Moorestown Save Open Space, and Concerned Moorestonians presented the township with a petition of nearly 1,500 signatures from township residents who are protesting the expenditure of money from the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund.
The township spent nearly $217,000 from the fund on engineering, design, and bidding expenses for phase one of the K.I.D.S initiative.
The petition was rejected by the township and its lawyer, according to Bruce Carskadon, a Concerned Moorestonians member, for several “deficiencies.”
“We were given 10 days to correct any deficiencies. We are in the process of trying to figure out what their reasoning was and we are addressing this,” he said.
Throughout the process, Mayor John Button has contended that the use of the money from the fund has been a perfectly legal and acceptable use.
The Moorestown Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund was created via referendum, it contains money collected through a one-cent open space tax per $100 of assessed home value.
Betsy Schnorr, president of STEM, said her group has contended that the original intent of the fund was not to be spent on active recreation. About 1,500 residents in town agree, she said.
According to Carskadon, the “deficiencies” were in regards to the petitions attempting to change the definition of “recreation” set forth by the state. The groups weren’t trying to do this, he said, just trying to narrow down what the township could spend the funding on.
“We believe the township is incorrectly interpreting the state’s definition, using funds that are not allowed in the definition. We just want them to spend money on passive recreation items, as opposed to anything else (for the fund),” he said. “That’s what we’re doing, that’s the crux of the issue, and it just depends on whether or not they will accept our definition.”
Button again defended the way council spent the open space funding. If the funding was only used for the acquisition of open space for preservation, township taxes would increase, he said.
If you look at the recent legislation from Gov. Chris Christie, Button said, it’s even more confirmation of the fact that the fund is intended to bolster open space and recreation purposes.
“I believe that people have a lot of misinformation with this issue. If they knew the facts, such as if we were to spend it on only land purchases for open space, our taxes would go up, there’s no question about it,” Button said. “Everybody has an opinion, but not many people have the facts.”
