Green Jersey

N.J.’s $600 million question

New Jersey voters may get to decide in November whether to approve $600 million in bonds for land preservation, a bailout of sorts for the Garden State Preservation Trust that has stirred controversy and divided the state’s environmental groups.

It took only seven minutes, Tom Hester points out on newjerseynewsroom.com, for two legislative committees to approve the open-space referendum for the Nov. 3 ballot without public input. The Senate Environmental Committee made its decision Thursday, and the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee, yesterday.

The Garden State Preservation Trust, created in 1998, has provided funds for preservation of open space, farmland and historic properties and has essentially run dry.

Yesterday, the Sierra Club, New Jersey Environmental Federation, New Jersey Environmental Lobby and Environment New Jersey condemned the committees’ action, calling it an election-year gimmick that voters won’t approve, given the state’s budget woes.

“This question would lead to another 15 percent ($30 million) cut in core environmental programs,” Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club said in a statement. “So we’re going to have money for open space but close parks [and] handicap programs?”

Tittel and other critics back a long-term, stable source of funding totaling $200 million a year. If a stop-gap is proposed, they say, it should at least be backed by a revenue source.

Proponents of a public question, including the New Jersey Audubon Society and Keep it Green coalition, said the question provides sorely needed funding and would have some economic benefits.

“We’re now without state funding until voters approve a ballot issue to renew preservation dollars,” Alison Mitchell of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation said in a statement. “Approval of the bond issue affords us opportunities to save land at a bargain and help boost the real estate market at a critical time.”