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May 18, 2019 – May 24, 2019
Out of Resources to Avoid Default, Bass River Mulls Major Tax Hike
Photo Submitted By New Jersey Conservation Foundation
J. Garfield DeMarco (right) with Bob Shinn, former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, at a dedication of the A.J. DeMarco Cranberry Meadows Natural Area in October 2013.
Tax-Levy-Cap Exception Could Allow Township to Stay Solvent for Years
By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
A LASTING LEGACY J. Garfield DeMarco Served as Burlco GOP Boss For 16 Years, But His Unexpected Decision After Leaving That Position Will Continue Serving the Pinelands Long After His Passing By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
M O U N T H O L LY— J. G a r f i el d D e M a r c o , t h e fo r m e r l o n g t i m e Bu rl ing ton Count y Republ ica n Committee chairman and large-scale Woodland Township cranberry grower who passed away in his sleep at 80 in Mount Holly Samaritan Hospice on May 12, might ordinarily have been remembered for just those distinctions. The fact that his legacy to the area is considered far more meaningful and lasting, however, is due to DeMarco’s havi ng gone about ever y t h i ng he did in ways that were anything but ordinary, defying not only convention, but conventiona l wisdom a nd t he conventional expectations of someone in his position. DeMarco, the man former Republican Gov. Thomas Kean once described as “the chairman of the chairmen,” seemed to contradict the cliché about people tending to become more conservative as they grow older—and confounded
those who put stock in it. T h a t t r a n sfo r m a t io n wa s b e s t demonst rated by h is having gone from being a leading opponent of the restrictions originally put in place to protect the Pinelands Preserve to selling 14 square miles of his family’s cranber r y bogs to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation in 2004 for $12 million—half of its market value— in a move he called one of his proudest achievements. “This rare ecological treasure — k n ow n a s t h e F r a n k l i n P a r k e r Preserve—is now preserved because of him,” said Michele S. Byers, the foundation’s executive director. The tract, which encompasses parts of Woodland, Tabernacle and Bass River townships, was described by Byers as having some of the most b e a ut i f u l wet la nd s i n t h e P i n e Barrens and providing critical habitat to more than 50 rare, threatened or endangered species. Then there was DeMarco’s political
t r a nsfor m at ion f rom a de d icat e d Republican leader, to a registered Independent, who ended up voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. He told an opinion writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer last December, in an interview at his home in Hammonton, that he found an “undercurrent of racism” in GOP support for President Donald J. Trump (whose adviser, Kellyanne Conway, was DeMarco’s cousin). Accord i ng to a st atement f rom his family that was released to the media by his aunt, Barbara DeMarco, of Ha m monton, when J. Ga r f ield DeMarco was asked why he had quit the GOP, “he would simply say ‘The Republican Party of today has no place for men like me.’” On a more personal note was his decision to “come out” as a gay man in 2015 by marrying a partner whom he had met at an AIDS fundraiser in Philadelphia 20 years previously. See LEGACY Page 10
BASS RIVER—In a last-ditch effort to avert a looming financial crisis, the Bass River Township Board of Commissioners on May 6 introduced a 2019 municipal budget that would take advantage of an exception to the state’s two-percent tax-levy cap to raise local property taxes by about $210 per $100,000 in assessed value. Dealing with the fiscal problems facing the local elementa r y school, however, may eventually call for a different sort of solution involving consolidation with another municipality, as later became evident at the same meeting (a separate issue). In a report on the town’s dire financial status, Township Auditor Kevin Frenia explained how the cap on taxation, which was imposed on state municipalities by the New Jersey Legislature back in 2010, has gradually eroded revenue sources for many smaller communities such as Bass River. According to Frenia, however, by utilizing a provision in the tax-levy-cap law that allows a municipality to pay off its current debt all at once—which in Bass River’s case, amounts to approximately $350,000—the township could resolve the its financial problems on both a short-and long-term basis. Taking that step, as he explained to the Pine Barrens Tribune, would not only permit local property taxes to be raised well beyond the law’s two percent limit, but allow that much higher taxation figure to become its new permanent tax-levy base. Such an arrangement, he said, would enable the township to continue to remain solvent for the foreseeable future, providing enough cash on hand to finance any immediate need that might arise, such as a new fire engine. But that might not be welcome news to local property owners, who would see their current bill of $164 on a $100,000 assessment more than double to $374—what Frenia characterized as a “significant tax increase.” The total proposed budget of $2,108,150, as compared to total general appropriations for See TAX / Page 12
INDEX Community.......................... 8 Hobbyist............................ 15 Marketplace....................... 19 Grill-Out Guide..................S1 Jobs................................... 20 Opinion................................ 7 Health................................ 11 Leo the Lion....................... 14 Senior Column..................... 8 Here’s My Card.................. 16 Local News.......................... 3 Worship Directory................ 9
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