Town tries to nail down way to pay for turf field
Marlboro CFO says decision may wait until 2008 budget is formulated
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer
Work is well under way on Marlboro's new synthetic turf field at the municipal complex, Wyncrest Road, Marlboro, but the exact means of how officials will pay for the sports field is not set in stone.

The turf field is part of an improvement project known as Marlboro Township Park Improvements, Phase II. Included in the plan are the construction of the turf field and improvements and additions to soccer fields behind the Marlboro Middle School, Route 520.

A resolution that was discussed at the Sept. 6 Township Council meeting indicated that the entire project will cost $2.6 million.

The turf field is being built by Precise Construction of Freehold, which was awarded a contract for $858,000 to construct the playing surface.

Marlboro's chief financial officer, Al Steinberg, explained that at the present time, it has yet to be determined how the turf field will be paid for, in terms of whether bonds will be issued by the township or revenue from the sale of a liquor license will be dedicated for that use.

It had originally been planned to pay for the turf field using open space money and money from the sale of the liquor license, he said.

Steinberg explained that the recent passage of state legislation known as A-1 has complicated the decision of how the turf field will be paid for.

According to the bill's description on the New Jersey State Legislature Internet Web site, within A-1 there is a 4 percent cap on local tax levies.

A previous article stated that the money from the liquor license was considered for payment of the turf field, but added that the council wanted to save that money in case of its need since the passage of A-1.

The decision on exactly how the turf field will be paid for most likely will not be known until April or May, when the 2008 municipal budget is developed, according to Steinberg.

Republican Councilwoman Patricia Morelli said, "The liquor license will most likely be the option" used to provide funding to match the grants Marlboro has already received. Morelli said she is being optimistic that the money generated by the sale of the liquor license will not be needed elsewhere.

The installation of the turf field at the municipal complex may turn into a political football before any Pop Warner youth football games are played on it.

Morelli and Councilman Joseph Pernice are running for re-election to four-year terms. They are being challenged by Democrats Frank LaRocca and Randi Marder, who are seeking their first terms on the council.

LaRocca said he has always been in favor of the turf field as long as it had been handled in a responsible manner by the administration.

"The way the township has gone about the installation and acquisition of the turf field has been irresponsible," LaRocca said in response to the uncertain funding plans.

Morelli said the township has more than $1.1 million in grants for the Marlboro Township Park Improvements, Phase II, breaking the amounts down to $650,000, $255,000, and $100,000.

Marlboro received a grant for $650,000 from the Green Acres program to help fund the project. With Green Acres money the township must match the amount provided by the state.

A donation has been on the books for a few years now, according to Steinberg, in the amount of $255,000. This money was donated by a developer for township parks and is also being used on this project, he said.

A spokesman for the Monmouth County Park System confirmed that in February 2006 Marlboro officials were told they would receive $100,000 from the county Board of Freeholders for the soccer field improvements - the original scope of the project.

The original plan was to upgrade and add additional soccer fields at a site behind the Marlboro Middle School.

Also included in the plan was the replacement of an aging irrigation system by installing a well, providing lighting to the new fields, enhancing the buffer separating the site from the middle school by planting additional trees and bushes, constructing an emergency access road from the middle school parking lot to the soccer fields, providing additional parking, constructing a pavilion with picnic tables, adding a walking/ jogging path, a restroom/concession building, sitting areas, and enhancing a pond for passive recreation use.

In a letter dated March 7, 2007 to Business Administrator Judith Tiernan from Theresa McGettigan-Miller, the project manager with Green Acres, the scope of the project was shown in its amended form to include "one artificial multi-purpose field."

The $650,000 grant from Green Acres had been determined before the addition of the turf field to the project. Documents show that after the turf field was added no request for additional funding was made.

Lighting and bleachers were no longer listed on the scope of the project. Morelli said they were taken out and said the soccer organization would raise the money itself for those amenities.

Marlboro's Pop Warner football teams are playing their games on the road this season as they await the completion of the turf field they will call home.

John Saffioti, the superintendent of the recreation department, said the turf field may be completely installed by early to mid- October. He said there will be another meeting with Birdsall Engineering about the soccer field portion of the project. Saffioti said he is hoping to start work on the soccer field improvements in the summer or fall of 2008.