Open Space Could be on Oakland Ballot Twice in November

Oakland voters could be casting two votes on open space funding in November, depending on the fate of two initiatives being weighed by both the state and local government.

The Oakland council is likely to introduce a referendum question that if approved would extend the borough’s open space tax, which currently consists of one cent on each $100 of a property’s assessed value and will expire at the end of the year.

The tax, which since its introduction a decade ago has funded two major purchases including the former Pleasure property, has been approved by Oakland voters twice for five-year periods.

But legislation in the state assembly could add a second open space question for voters in the borough around the state to weigh in November.

The senate has passed a proposed constitutional amendment, which would require voter approval and has been touted by many of the state’s conservation groups, that would dedicate one-fifth of a cent of the state’s 7 percent sales tax toward open space purchases.

The bill's fate is uncertain, however, because support in the assembly has been lukewarm, according to a report by NJSpotlight.com. A major stumbling block has been a report from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services that projected the amendment would cost far more than initially planned.

The bill had been intended to siphon about $200 million annually from the state budget, but the office has said that based on an upward trend in sales tax revenue that amount would likely rise to just over $300 million by 2017 and cost around $17 billion over the next 30 years.

Neither measure would represent an additional tax burden to Oakland residents, as the state bill would allocate money from an existing tax and the local levy has already been in place for ten years.

But both measures could be a boon to Oakland open space projects.

Proponents of the Oakland fund have said that having the municipal open space source has paved the way for matching grants from the state, and new sources of funding would increase state resources especially for conserving protected areas such as the Highlands Region, in which Oakland is entirely situated.

Both measures have an August deadline for passage to appear on the November ballots.