Turf Field Saga II

Ahead of Tuesday’s Township Committee’s meeting, Committeemen Tom Critelli and DJ Luccarelli are trying to defend their votes at the last meeting to not approved the bond ordinance for road paving and public safety.

Critelli and Luccarelli stated that they will approve the bond ordinance only if $1.5 million is added for a multi-purpose turf field.

Their rationale? They stated that “for many years, our recreation community has asked for a multipurpose artificial turf athletic field to provide increased opportunities for Holmdel’s children to run, play, and compete with one and another.” They also stated that Holmdel expects to receive $5 million in PILOT payments in 2021 and that “We have the money. It’s time to act.” PILOT payments are payments in lieu of taxes and are primarily from the Bell Works re-development, both from the main commercial/office building and the senior residential units built near the main building.

However, Committeeman Prakash Santhana, in his Patch article (see link below), explained that the narrative does not “hold water”. Santhana points out that the results of the extensive town-wide recreation survey (published in 2018) ranked turf field very low as a need by residents. In addition, when the Holmdel Youth Athletic Association (“HYAA”) submitted a list of recommended recreation needs in 2018, that list did not include a multipurpose turf field. Not mentioned was that a $3.3 million bond ordinance was approved by the Township Committee for artificial turf fields in 2016 and was later rescinded after strong opposition by residents including a filed lawsuit.

Link to Santhana’s Patch article: https://patch.com/new-jersey/holmdel-hazlet/turf-field-your-taxes

Santhana also points out that while the Township may expect to receive around $5 million in PILOT payments, that’s is only one side of the budget equation. Because of past short-term debt issued and the need to raise our minimum reserves to maintain our AAA debt rating which reduces our cost of borrowing, the Township will need to find $9 million in revenue to offset these increased expenses. So, in fact, the Township needs to look for additional revenue ($4 million or more) to meet our basic obligations – such as road paving and public safety.

The agenda for Tuesday’s Township Committee shows the introduction of the original $2.8 million bond ordinance again. The bulk of the proceeds of this bond ordinance are earmarked as follows: $1.7 million for road paving, $600,000 for public safety building improvements for the Police Department and the Emergency Services Building, and $213,000 for public safety equipment. It does not include any amount for a multipurpose turf field.

At least one Holmdel resident has suggested that if Critelli and Luccarelli truly believe that Holmdel wants and needs a multipurpose turf field, maybe they should propose a bond ordinance for the turf field (whether it’s for $1.5 million or more) as a separate referendum question for Holmdel residents to decide.

Stay tuned. It will be interesting to see how all this will play out at Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting at 7:30 PM.