State reaches uneasy compromise on open space
Legislature to bond extra funding until long-term solution is agreed on
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

Efforts to renew the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) through a November ballot referendum faltered as the Legislature missed the deadline to approve the necessary resolutions last week. While some environmental groups wish to pressure the Senate and Assembly into a summer session, supporters of the original bill have said this is unlikely.

The deadline's passing means a victory for Gov. Jon Corzine, who opposed the Legislature's proposal to re-fund the program through the use of bonds. The governor has said that while he supports the idea of open space preservation, he does not want to do it by putting the state in more debt. Instead, Corzine proposes re-funding the program through revenues from his asset monetization plan, which would sell or lease state assets like the New Jersey Turnpike or lottery. Lawmakers from both parties heavily criticized this idea, even going so far as to call the governor's actions political blackmail.

State residents have been skeptical of Corzine's monetization plan (which he has insisted is different from privatization) since it was first talked about. Meanwhile, the GSPT has proved to be a highly popular program among constituents. By linking the future of the open space fund to this plan, he has forced the Legislature to at least consider his viewpoint.

In order to ease fears about what could happen in the year the fund stops paying for new open space acquisitions, Corzine put a $30 million supplemental into the GSPT as a stopgap measure and promised that if the Legislature really doesn't like his proposal, he'd support the use of bonds to re-fund the program the following year.

When this was announced, Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), a prime sponsor of the bill, said that the amount offered is dwarfed by the sheer number of requests made of the program each year. McKeon said he was concerned about whether the fund would even be able to get off the ground again should the monetization plan fall through, noting the fickle nature of politics.

In response, another deal was worked out, raising the $30 million supplemental to $200 million. This, McKeon said, will keep the fund going for about a year. This money, in the form of a bond, will need to be approved by voters this November. This has satisfied the legislative leadership enough that lawmakers will stand down until they hear exactly what Corzine's plan entails.

"As strongly as I feel about how important it is to go forward with the GSPT, the governor's strong desire, which is in part supported by legislative leadership, means we defer until we know what we are going to do with monetization," said McKeon.

Environmental groups, however, are not happy with this, announcing plans to pressure legislators to open a summer session in order to pass the necessary referendums.

"We're going to continue to press for a summer session, because it's the only opportunity to renew the trust in November, and it's not unprecedented for the Legislature to move open space legislation to the summer. I think they did it in '92 and '98, so they can come back in the summer," said Joanna Wolaver, of the New Jersey Audubon Society.

Still, some lawmakers are skeptical that a summer session can happen this time around with the governor and legislative leadership working out and supporting the compromise.

"I know it's been requested, but I really don't know if it's going to happen. I can't say I have a strong feeling that it's going to happen at the moment," said Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer). She noted that Corzine has blunted his original proposals for monetization, saying that he no longer is trying to out and out sell the turnpike, so perhaps the Legislature can meet the governor somewhere in the middle.

This makes Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Chapter Sierra Club, nervous. Tittel said that a bonding measure would provide a more sustainable source of funding for the program. He compared the compromise struck between the governor and his opponents to a life preserver thrown to a drowning man - good in the short term, but no long-term solutions.

"If nothing else, it buys some time, but as far as the campaign is concerned, it means we have to work harder. ... So it doesn't mean we go away, we work twice as hard," Tittel said. "No one knows what the plan is or how it will work, so our feeling was, better to have one bill in the hand rather than two toll roads in the bush, so to speak."

The bill to put the $200 million bond referendum on the ballot in November is set to be discussed and voted on June 14.