Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Must Pay Taxes for Pavilion
By DON STINE
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association has been ordered to pay about $20,000 in rollback property taxes for their boardwalk pavilion after state officials determined the property is not tax exempt.
Neptune Tax Assessor Bernard Haney said the tax due is about $6,500 for each of the years 2005 through 2007.
This is an estimated amount, plus or minus, he said.
The Ocean Grove beach, boardwalk and open-air pavilion were part of the state Green Acres program that made it tax exempt.
Last year, the association refused to allow gay couples to have a civil union performed in the boardwalk pavilion based on religious principles, prompting the state Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the Green Acres program, to rescind the pavilions tax exempt status.
The DEP based its decision on the belief that the pavilion was not open to all people on an equal basis and thus not subject to the tax exemption.
Haney said that the Camp Meeting Association has to file an application with the DEP every three years to reapply for its tax exempt status on the boardwalk, pavilion and beach.
It was determined by the DEP last year that the beach and boardwalk remain tax exempt but that the pavilion did not qualify, he said
The state rule is that three years of rollback taxes become due and the taxes are usually due when a property is taken off the state tax exemption rolls, Haney said.
He said the tax exemptions are usually granted for farmlands, woodlands, and Green Acres properties.
The rule usually applies to farmlands that have changed their use or are being developed, he said.
Haney said he does not yet know what the tax bill will be on the pavilion for this year but the assessed value of the pavilion and the land is $297,500.
The association has until April 1 to appeal the DEP decision and association representatives could not be reached for comment.
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