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Dec. 30 to Jan. 5
DEP and the Shore
New Jersey Fish and Wildlife, a part of the Department of Environmental Protection, published a proposed rule in the New Jersey Register on Dec. 16 allowing the state to restrict access to tidal waters and adjacent shorelines in order to provide enhanced protection to threatened or endangered species, even, and this is a real kicker, if the threat is anticipated, by Fish and Wildlife, rather than actual.
The rule would give this component of the DEP, a step-sister, if you will, to the land-use rule makers who have been dominating the attention with their own thousand-page-plus rule on Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL).
The proposed Fish and Wildlife rule would give this arm of the DEP its own regulation to enforce. It establishes the ability for Fish and Wildlife to have authority to act outside a shore community’s own DEP-approved beach management plan. It also provides a limitation on the public’s right to access water based on the public trust doctrine.
One argument for the proposed rule is that it establishes an avenue for regulation where an approved beach management plan does not exist. What legitimately worries shore communities in Cape May County is that there is nothing in the proposed rule that limits its interference to communities that do not have such a beach management plan.
Add this up, both REAL and this new proposed Shore Protection Rule, throw in the long, inane struggle the DEP had with North Wildwood, a struggle longer and concluded with the governor’s personal intervention when it became too embarrassing to endure any longer, and include the DEP’s almost automatic support of anything the offshore wind industry needs, and you have a picture of a state agency that never seems to consider the impact of its policies on the unique, vibrant and lucrative tourist economy that dominates coastal communities.
There is a unique and irreplaceable community in the state’s coastal zones, and one that deserves consideration before it becomes the endangered species.
Coal Has a Future
Despite its reputation as the dirtiest of fossil fuels, coal remains a dominant source of electricity generation in several states, including states in the PJM Interconnection, the grid operator and wholesale electricity capacity provider to 13 states including New Jersey. In 2023 coal provided 14% of the PJM generation and 18% of its generating capacity.
Why does that matter to us tucked away in the Garden State with all of its remaining coal generation plants closed? It matters because New Jersey is a major energy importer. Between 20% and 25% of the electricity consumed in the state comes from outside its boundaries. Portions of that are coming from fossil-fuel generation plants, yes even coal-powered plants, of the type that the state has retired within its own borders.
Coal is still a dominant force in many PJM states, including Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland, to mention a few. These states have policies that are keeping coal plants open past their previous retirement dates.
So New Jersey, for all of the chaos caused by its drive for renewables, is still a state whose internal generation is almost totally dependent on natural gas and nuclear power and whose dependence on out-of-state sources remains significant.
S&P Global says U.S. power generators are “pumping the brakes” on coal plant retirements because of the surge in electricity demand that is occurring and is predicted to continue. A report from the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory on 2024 data center usage of electricity speaks to the rapidly rising electricity consumption by data centers and the policies in states like New Jersey that are driving the surge in demand higher with policies favoring electric vehicle transitions and residential home heating options.
The chaos surrounding this transition to renewable generating sources appears to have given new life to that villain of many of Charles Dickens’ smog-filled London novels, coal.
Property Tax Season
Property tax season is about to begin in earnest. At reorganization meetings, governing bodies and school districts across the county will set up temporary budgets and then begin in earnest to define the budget and the accompanying tax burden for 2025.
The tax bill we all receive has three major components: a county tax, a school tax and a local purpose tax. Add the three and you have what you will be asked to pay in 2025. While most people watch the municipal governing body for the local purpose tax, they have no eye on the school board, even where the school tax is a much higher percentage of the total tax bill.
Let’s take a quick look at how this season will start by looking at the components of the 2024 property tax bill in each town.
For four of the county’s 16 communities, the county tax is the largest component of the property tax bill. This is because the county tax is intimately tied to calculations of the real value, not assessed value, of property. Not surprisingly, the four towns are Avalon, Cape May City, Cape May Point and Stone Harbor. Three of these towns currently pay more than 50% of their tax bill to the county. Cape May City pays its property tax almost evenly divided by the three principle units, but the county component just edges out the school tax and the local tax.
Six county municipalities pay the largest share of their property taxes to their school districts. All four of the mainland townships and Woodbine have the most significant component of the tax bill coming from the school district. In the case of residents from Lower Township, that school bill includes both the local district and their share of the tax levy for the regional school district. The only community from a resort area with the school tax as the major component of the total bill is West Cape May.
The final six communities have their local tax rate as the largest contributor to their total tax bill. These are North Wildwood, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, West Wildwood, Wildwood City and Wildwood Crest. Here keeping an eye on the governing body’s budget process may be the best strategy.
It’s tax season and there are so many ways to miss what you should see.
Happenings
*On Friday, Dec. 20, Whitesboro residents and others, above, gathered at the Whitesboro Grammar School on Main Street to discuss the history of the community and the signs of its disappearance.
*The Ocean City Council is reorganizing the way in which the city deals with capital projects.
*A man died after he apparently crashed his e-bike at Magnolia and Pacific avenues in Wildwood on Saturday, Dec. 28, according to a press release by the Police Department.
*At a special meeting Dec. 30, the Stone Harbor Borough Council passed two related resolutions to hire external specialists for the investigation and resolution of an information technology security incident in the borough.
*New Jersey State Police hope distinctive tattoos on the body of a woman found in a refrigerator in the Belleplain State Forest on Sunday, Dec. 22, will lead to her being identified.
*Middle Township Mayor Chris Leusner and Township Committee praised the Cape May County Board of Commissioners for final passage of a resolution modifying the posted speed limits on County Road 615, Goshen Road.
*The Wildwood Board of Commissioners has put off a vote on establishing a shared services agreement with Cape May County for 911 dispatch services.
*The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Protection plan to have individual meetings with the municipalities over the long-planned Five Mile Island dune and beach berm project.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council is considering hiring a temporary borough administrator to replace the fired previous administrator, Manny Parada.
*The county commissioners have declined to consider a resident’s request to stream their meetings live on social media, but took a step toward more transparency, unanimously approving a resolution that calls for release of the audio of their meetings within 72 hours.
*A Wildwood Crest woman has been charged in a fatal hit-and-run accident at West Hand and Hudson avenues in Wildwood on New Year’s Eve.
*It’s often difficult to find items made solely in the U.S., but twins Nate and Noah Wenker are the proud producers of a new feature-length movie filmed and produced in Cape May County, with only Cape May residents as actors.
*New Jersey was under a State of Emergency declared by Gov. Phil Murphy, due to severe storms causing hazardous winter weather conditions, including heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain, high wind gusts and freezing temperatures.
Spout Off of the Week
A New Jersey law that removes a requirement for teachers to pass a reading, writing, and mathematics test for certification went into effect on January 1st, 2025. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) signed the law in June 2024. The law, Act 1669, cleared the state Senate in a 34-2 vote as part of the state’s 2025 budget. This ought to work out well for the children!
Avalon
