Are the Ocean Grove beach and boards tax exempt? Ocean Grove beachfront. Paul Goldfinger photograph. Feb. 2023. Click once to enlarge.
TO THE EDITOR:
Re. “Tax Exempt Status of CMA Properties in Ocean Grove.” February 23, 2023.
Originally, all of OG was tax exempt. Monmouth Country naturally took a dim view of this and at its Tax Board decided on 22 May 1908 that a lot holder “is the absolute owner of his property as far as taxes are concerned.” “The leaseholders will not be satisfied with this decision” and a law suit was expected.
The County Assessor mentioned the Auditorium and Youth Temple were exempt as was likely other structures used for religious purposes. It was mentioned in June 1908 that the beach and boardwalk, then valued at $3 million, had been dedicated as a public highway “many years ago” and therefore tax exempt.
Addendum from David Fox: I used the term “lot holder” in the sense of the party that leases the lot from the OGCMA.
DAVID FOX, OCEAN GROVE
The writer is the Historic Research Director of the Historical Society of Ocean Grove.
Editor’s note: This letter from David Fox suggests that though the land under our homes is owned by the CMA, the “lot holder” should pay the taxes.
I believe the courts have upheld that decision in the past, but it never ceases to be controversial, especially now that the CMA has been raising “ground rents” for new properties such as condos. Some of us have 99 year leases for $10.50 each.
All homeowners in the Grove would do well to read their leasehold documents.
And one can of worms, besides being used for fishing bait, is the question of tax exempt status for the new pier, and since FEMA declined to pay for its post-Sandy repair, is it officially a “public thoroughfare” subject to church vs state limitations? And will the CMA hold religious events on their new cross-shaped pier?
So we also see that the boardwalk and the beach are tax exempt not for religious reasons, but because they are”public highways.” And this reinforces the contention that there should be no religious symbols or activities at both locations (“separation of church and state.”) And we suspect that other tax exempt “public” locations, such as our parks. should also be kept “religious exempt.”
Paul Goldfinger,MD, Editor, Blogfinger.net
BOBBY DARIN FROM THE SOUNDTRACK OF GOODFELLAS. (No taxes beyond the sea.)
The OGHA must demand a legal survey of all the land in OG that was designated as public dedicated land now known as Green Acres established during the1908 tax case.
This is ridiculous that the Township continues using information during its zoning and public hearings that fails to be founded in facts.
In a 1930 case in front of the NJ Court, the Court ruled that the OG leases were like ownership because the leaseholds were held in perpetuity. But because each lot was held by a leasehold on the OGCMA land they were not able to rule that they were ownership as in fee simple ownership.
Because of the court’s ruling stating that the leaseholds are held in perpetuity, this mandates that each and every OGCMA leasehold must be restricted to single family use since the majority of lots are incapable of meeting the legal definition required within the MLUL.
This establishes that the Township knowingly committed fraud when establishing the first two blocks and the North End Development as multi-family with commercial uses since Federal and State law requires that all like-minded lots within a development must be zoned equally.
No further actions by any of Neptune’s Board should take place until they correct their illegal zoning for OG.
I used the term “lot holder” in the sense of the party that leases the lot from the OGCMA.