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Funding Profile: New Jersey

State Background Information

New Jersey is by far the most densely populated state in the US, with a density more than 14 times the national average. Between 1990 and 2000, the population grew 8.6 percent, bringing the population of the fifth smallest state to 8.4 million people (ninth most populous). From 1989 to 1999, the median household income dropped by 4.1 percent (adjusted for inflation) to $50,428. Although the state's national ranking remained high, dropping from second to third, the state ranked 43rd in income growth rate over this period, when the average change in income nationally was an increase of 3.7 percent.

Since 1950, more than half of the state's farmland has been lost to development, with 150,000 acres lost between 1990 and 2000 alone. In 2000, 830,000 acres remained in agricultural production. By 1998, New Jersey had 854,000 preserved acres, more than two-thirds of which is managed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In 1995, the state ranked third nationally in percentage of land owned by the state, at 15.6 percent.

Fastest Growing Counties

Programs

In 1998, New Jersey voters approved by a 2-1 margin the Garden State Preservation Trust Act, which was signed into law by Governor Christie Whitman on June 30, 1999 (codified in Constitutional Amendment - Art. VIII, Sec. II, Para. 6, N.J.P.S. §13:8C-1). The Act created the nine-member Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) and dedicated $98 million each year for the ten years between 1999 and 2009 from the state sales and use tax towards Governor Whitman's goal of preserving one million acres (500,000 of open space and 500,000 of farmland). The Act also authorizes the issue of as much as $1 billion in revenue bonds to be repaid through the state sales and use tax. Each year, $6 million is allotted to the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund. Of the remaining funds, 60 percent are allocated to the Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund and 40 percent to the Garden State Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. Through July 2000, over 200,000 acres had been preserved. If the one million acre goal is met, 40 percent of New Jersey's total land mass (or about half of the state's undeveloped land in 2000) would be preserved as open space.

Green Acres Program

The Green Acres Program was started in 1961 "to achieve, in partnership with others, a system of interconnected open spaces, whose protection will preserve and enhance New Jersey's natural environment and its historic, scenic, and recreational resources for public use and enjoyment." Between 1961 and 1995, nine bond issues were passed, totaling $1.42 billion. With the 1998 Garden State Preservation Trust Act, the program received its first stable source of funding. As of February 2000, Green Acres had protected more than 410,000 acres of open space for conservation and recreation, including more than 5,400 acres of donated land.

As specified by the Garden State Preservation Act, 50 percent of Green Acres funding is allocated for DEP open space acquisition and park development, 40 percent for grants and loans to local governments for preservation and recreational development, and 10 percent for matching grants to nonprofit organizations and land acquisition and recreational development. The Garden State Preservation Trust reviews projects recommended by Green Acres and submits its own recommendations to the Legislature which makes recommendations to the Governor. As of March 2000, the local and nonprofit grant programs had protected over 80,000 acres.

In 1989, the New Jersey legislature enacted legislation authorizing counties and municipalities to establish a voter-approved Open Space Trust Fund supported by property taxes. In 1997 this was amended to include park development and maintenance and historic preservation (now codified in P.L. 1997 Ch. 24). As of February 2002, 19 of 21 counties had established open space taxes by voter referendum, collecting between an estimated $460,000 (Cumberland County) and an estimated $24 million (Morris County) annually with an average of $2.5 million and a total of $48 million. Additionally, 178 municipalities have also started open space funding programs. The Green Acres Planning Incentive Program offers 50 percent matching funds and two percent interest loans for 20 years to communities with open space and recreation plans (OSRP) and taxes dedicated to land acquisition to acquire land identified by their OSRP (loans are repaid through proceeds from the open space tax).

Green Acres also runs a Tax Exemption Program, which grants exemption from local property taxes to nonprofit organizations that allow public access to their private recreation or conservation lands. Between the passage of the Tax Exemption Act in 1976 and March 2000, over 38,000 acres were protected.

Farmland Preservation Program

The Farmland Preservation Program is administered by the 11-member State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) and in FY 2000 was funded at $80 million, more than five times the program's previous annual funding. The Garden State Preservation Trust Act (which allocates 40 percent of funds remaining after the $6 million is dedicated to historic preservation) also enables SADC to directly purchase development easements and to grant 50 percent matching funds to nonprofits. SADC also runs a Planning Incentives grant program (20-40 percent matching funds are required, towns and counties eligible), a county easement purchase program, and a fee-simple purchase program where SADC purchases farms and then auctions them with deed restrictions. Of the $80 million budget in FY 2000, $49 million was spent on traditional easement purchases, $22 million on fee-simple purchases, and the remaining $9 million on the other three programs. Since its creation through 2000, the Farmland Preservation Program has preserved 64,738 acres on 432 farms. In the 2000 calendar year, SADC preserved 19,272 acres over two county funding rounds.

Proposed Legislation

Three open space related bills introduced in 2000 were in committee at the close of the 2000-2001 legislative session. AB 990 would require that at least 25 percent of GSPT funds be allocated to urban projects and that at least 20 percent of funds be dedicated for recreation projects. SB 5 (Senate President DiFrancesco-R), which passed in the Senate, would establish in the DEP a Conservation Action Fund and transfer up to $5 million annually from the Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund into this account for emergency open space acquisitions. SB 649 would establish a corporate business tax credit and an income tax credit (30-50 percent of value, limit $1 million per year, carried over indefinitely) for corporations and individuals who donate land for conservation or recreation purposes.

Sources

CommonWealth, "State of the States," http://www.massinc.org/
Garden State Environet, http://www.gsenet.org/
Garden State Preservation Trust, http://www.gardenstatepreservationtrust.org/
The Natural Resources Council of Maine, "Public Land Ownership by State," http://www.maineenvironment.org/nwoods/Landowned0800.htm
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, "Green Acres Home Page," http://www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres/index.html
New Jersey State Agriculture Development Committee, http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/sadc/sadc.htm
US Census 2000, http://www.census.gov