The Final Days of a Hunting Club?

[Teegate]

All,

No matter what you think about gun clubs and what they represent, they are a part of the history of the pines. Unfortunately, many of them may be on their way out, and the reason may not be what you think. I received an email from a man I know who is a member of a gun club in the pines, and his below email that I have edited explains it all.

Guy



"Our club is at the forefront of a minor crisis right now , hoping that it does not turn into anything serious. We have been reassessed at 6 times the original assessment, which has more than doubled out taxes. We are appealing, and waiting for a reply from the "tax" people. We don't expect to get much relief. We cannot afford the extra cost and will probably have to give up the place........ Whatever, it looks like this cabin is on the way out."

 

[Boyd]

That's too bad. But I suspect it has to do with where that particular club is, how large a parcel it's on and what the zoning is. I mean... what a waste to have a hunting club sitting on land that could be subdivided for several McMansions.

Interestingly however, this follows another great tradition of the pines - displacing indigenous people to make room for suburban development. This is why towns like Medford, Mt. Laurel and others have "affordable housing" quotas, as an (often misguided) attempt to compensate for poor rural families who were taxed out of existence...

 

[Teegate]

Until I learn more I don't want to say anything that could effect his clubs future, but it is not a large property. I will see how things play out and keep you informed.


Guy

 

[RednekF350]

I was the secretary and I am now a member of the Board of Directors of Square Circle Sportsmen of Camden County. We were chartered in 1938.
Our property taxes recently hit over $44,000.000 a year!
They have nearly doubled since around 1986 when they were around $24,000.00
Not a bad deal for the municipality since we plow our own snow, dispose of our own trash and don't send any kids to school.
It takes a lot of dedicated, dues paying members to sustain a hunting/fishing organization in NJ today, with property taxes being only one of the hurdles.
No simple solution.
I wish the other fellow well.
Keeping a club alive in the pines is critical because once it is gone, you will never be able to establish a new one.
With the environmental stranglehold of the Pinelands Commission and the general anti-hunting sentiment of todays citizenry you would be lucky to open a bird sanctuary let alone a gun club.
Scott

 

[woodjin]

$44,000/year. Holy s##t!! How many acres Scott?

 

[tom m]

I love the pines and they will always be a part of my existance, but excuse my french but new jersey BLOWS as far as being affordable to live in. I used to work in vincentown and my company did alot of the work for the so called ( affordable housing ) starting at just $225,000 wow pocket change i suppose huh . this is why i moved out of that state. Remember when Florio took office ,the saying was last one to leave the state turn out the lights , well now it is last one to leave f_ _ _ em let them pay for the electric. taxes are killing people in jersey and maybe it's time for a revolt

 

[RednekF350]

$44,000/year. Holy s##t!! How many acres Scott?

50 +/- acres with a small lake.
We have a clubhouse, firearms and archery ranges but a lot of our unimproved land is wetlands and undevelopable.
We are taxed on an assessed value of $1.15 million. The assesed value of improvements is $367,000 out of that figure.
The real kicker in paying $44,000.00 a year is that we are getting no municipal services for our "donation".

 

[Buck]

$44,000 sounds very steep - did you appeal the assessment, or does it seem fair in relation to other properties?

 

[RednekF350]

$44,000 sounds very steep - did you appeal the assessment, or does it seem fair in relation to other properties?

About 12 years ago when the taxes were in the 30K range we had a guy come to us and make a presentation on entering our wooded land into a certified forestry program.
We would have received farmland assessment on the vacant portion of our land.
The membership and Board at the time felt that that would P.O. the town and give them a reason to not like us anymore.
We continue to take our lumps in the interest of being good taxpayers but I think a friendly appeal may be in our near future.