Loch Arbour moves forward to seek Allenhurst merger
If Allenhurst commissioners agree, question will be submitted to voters in November
The Village of Loch Arbour is moving forward with its plans to seek a merger with neighboring Allenhurst.
The village’s newly-elected board of commissioners introduced an ordinance earlier this month calling for the merger, according to Loch Arbour mayor Paul Fernicola. A public hearing is scheduled for May 2, after which the Loch Arbour commissioners can vote on the measure, he said.
The two towns have formed a special committee to consider the merger. If the Loch Arbour ordinance is passed, it will be forwarded to Allenhurst within five days, Fernicola said. Allenhurst’s board of commissioners would then have 120 days after receipt to pass the same ordinance, and voters would be asked to approve the merger in the November elections, he said.
Loch Arbour sends its students to Ocean Township, and officials and residents in the village have objected to the taxes property owners pay to the Ocean Township board of education.
Since Allenhurst is a sending district to Asbury Park, a merger would end Loch Arbour’s ties to Ocean Township. Fernicola said the village received a letter last year from the state commissioner of education confirming that a merger with Allenhurst would “sever” Loch Arbour’s relationship with Ocean Township.
The school tax rate in Allenhurst is significantly lower than in Loch Arbour because Allenhurst pays Asbury Park on a per-pupil basis and few Allenhurst students attend Asbury Park schools, Fernicola said.
Currently, Loch Arbour pays Ocean Township $2.1 million annually for its 20 students, but that figure remains the same regardless of how many students are sent, Fernicola said. In 2011, the average Loch Arbour homeowner paid $24,000 in taxes, but if the merger were approved that would drop to an average of less than $9,000, he said.
Loch Arbour was once part of Ocean Township, but it seceded in 1957. The arrangement for the Village to send its students to Ocean Township dates back to that time.
Fernicola said that Ocean Township objected to the secession in the 1950s and took the matter to the state supreme court, but the new village of Loch Arbour ultimately prevailed.
