Hoping to free up funds sooner rather than later, a legislative committee yesterday quickly revived a bill to provide money to preserve open space, farmland, and historic structures.
In a unanimous vote, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee approved legislation to allocate approximately $146 million over the next two years from corporate business taxes to enable towns, counties, and others to acquire and protect open spaces and agricultural land.
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Conservation groups and others echoed those concerns, saying it is important to start releasing the funds for the programs, some of which have run out of money. The bill implements a constitutional amendment dedicating a portion of corporate business taxes to open space, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November 2014.
“Uncertainty about the status of funding will persist until a compromise solution is reached between the Legislature and the Christie administration,’’ said Ryck Suydam, president of the New Jersey Farm Bureau.
“The urgency to release these voter-dedicated funds increases with each passing day,’’ agreed Ed Potosnak, chair of New Jersey Keep It Green, a coalition of more than a hundred conservation, historic-preservation, and park advocates who had lobbied to put the constitutional amendment to voters.
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