TOMS RIVER, N.J. – The Ocean County Board of Commissioners began the new year with a historic swearing-in and an ambitious proposal from its new director aimed at curbing overdevelopment through expanded land preservation efforts.
Part of that historic moment was the swearing in of Shmuel “Sam” Ellenbogen as the county’s newest commissioner.
Frank Sadeghi, who was named board director for 2026, announced plans Wednesday to place a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to approve a one-cent increase to the county’s open space tax. The current rate of 1.2 cents, he said, is no longer adequate to keep pace with the county’s growing population and rising land costs.
“That is why today I’m proposing … asking county voters to raise our county open space tax by one cent,” Sadeghi said at the Jan. 7 meeting. “This will allow us to more aggressively preserve open space and farmland, prevent overdevelopment, and enhance and modernize our county park system.”
The Open Space Trust Fund has been the center of power for the county officials, who use the fund more these days for pet projects such as restoring obscure ‘historical’ homes and using the fund to purchase sometimes otherwise unbuildable land from politically collected land owners.
It is estimated that the Natural Land Trust currently has $50 million in the bank and cannot spend the funds faster than they are being collected at the current rate, according to a county official who wished to remain anonymous.
The county’s Natural Lands Trust Program, funded through the existing tax, generates more than $10 million annually and has preserved about 35,000 acres since its creation in 1998.
It has also invested in controversial projects such as $4,000,000 for the “Cox House”, a historically mundane single family home in Barnegat, because of its ties to former County Commissioner Virginia Haines.
Sadeghi said expanding the program would help protect the county’s remaining undeveloped areas from rapid growth pressures.
“I think we need to step that up,” he said.