Many NJ residents like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Max Wienberg and others are taking advantage of huge property tax breaks for having portions of their property designated as farmland. They are being called by many phony farmers, for their attempts at cashing in on the law that states property owners with 5 or more acres can qualify for a special farm land tax break if they can show income of only $500 from goods produced on their lands.
MyFox News posted this report last night and interestingly Middletown's Administrator Tony Mercantante is featured in this report:
...But many say these tax breaks help preserve New Jersey open space and limit development. And Middletown manager Tony Mercantante thinks that can be a good thing.
Merchantante says, "Farming certainly is an activity that the state's been looking to preserve to the extend possible and farmland assessment has allowed farmers to survive."
People in favor or the tax breaks worry that backlash will force a change that hurts real farmers and possible jeopardize agriculture in New Jersey.
But Mercantante says change could occur, and bring more tax money to town's like his, without hurting real farmers.
"I think there should be a sliding scale approach to farmland assessment based upon the extend of your farming activity," Mercantante says.....
I find Mercantante's take on this subject somewhat disingenuous. If he felt this way previously why didn't he speak of it before, could it be because the "Queen of Middletown" is no longer with us? Judy Stanley-Coleman, aka the Queen, also took advantage of this law by raising honeybees on a portion of her large Middletown estate.
