Poll: Are You in Favor of the Field Lighting Project?

Along with deciding on the two candidates who will fill two seats on the Tuesday, voters will have the opportunity to decide if they feel the borough should pursue a nearly $400,000 lighting project on the field at the

If approved, council majority members have said the borough will first seek grant funding to pay for the project.

The issue is one that was debated by the Bloomingdale Council for several months leading up to the June 14 meeting, when the council voted to reject a Green Acres Loan that would have fronted the money for the project with the borough being responsible for paying back the loan.

See video from the June 14 meeting here.

Residents stood up at several meetings, some expressing interest in having their children be able to use the fields later at night, others expressing concern over the lights being left on or too bright near their homes.

The project is expected to cost about $394,000 and payments to the loan were originally proposed to come out of the Recreation and Open Space Establishment (ROSE) Fund. The loan would have had an interest rate of 2 percent over 20 years and payments of about $23,000 per year would have come from the ROSE Fund.

ROSE Fund money is collected as a separate tax on taxpayers' bills after voters approved the fund by referendum in 2001.

Instead of funding the project through the Green Acres loan, the council voted to ask voters if there is interest in the project and if approved by voters, seek grant funding to complete the lighting at the field before spending borough tax dollars. The council had also previously reached out to Green Acres to inquire about whether drainage issues on the field could be paid for by a Green Acres loan, but Green Acres responded that it would not be possible.

The Walter T. Bergen School field lighting project has become a major campaign issue for the four candidates running for council as some feel that the $394,000 it would cost to install lights on the field is too much and others feel it would have been an investment for the future.

Democrat Ray Yazdi is one who feels the borough could have ultimately benefitted from the expenditure, citing other towns that have had tournaments on fields the size of Walter T. Bergen and have brought in thousands of dollars in revenue.

Yazdi said because the taxpayers are already being taxed for the ROSE Fund, he feels that the project would have been worthwhile.

"Knowing that initial reaction of anyone looking at a $400,000 expense in this economy will be the same as my initial reaction was when I found out about it and before I understood all the facts. My reaction was, 'No way, another $400,000 expense that's going to raise my taxes? Absolutely against it.' But when I learned that this was not going to cost us any additional money...that's when I got behind it," he said.

Yazdi said he has been charged approximately $40 per year for the ROSE Fund on his tax bill and that the re-payment of the Green Acres loan would have cost a fraction of that amount. Primarily, Yazdi said he would like to see the drainage and conditions of the field itself taken care of at the same time as electrical work is being done on the fields if a lighting project is approved.

"My thoughts are that the Republican majority has voted to put this topic on the ballot as a political strategy," he said.

Still, Republican candidate Ron Caputo said he feels the cost of the project is too much.

"I am solidly against the lighting project," he said. "I would encourage our voters to vote against it."

Caputo said he believes the money in the ROSE Fund could be better spent elsewhere.

"I would rather have that money used for flood mitigation," he said.

Republican candidate and incumbent Council President Linda Huntley said she did not feel it was her place to express an opinion as a member of the governing body.

"I feel it's up to [voters] to make their decision," she said.

John D'Amato, the other Democrat running for council, said he did not feel the council made the right decision rejecting the loan. D'Amato said he thinks an entire re-development of the field and surrounding areas is something that should be considered, including a walking track for seniors and some type of dog park.

"I think the borough should get the project started," he said. "I think the borough should have funded it through Green Acres money and found other ways to pay it off."

D'Amato said if tournaments and other large scale games were held on the field after the improvements are made, they could help pay back borrowed money.

Participate in our poll and answer: Will you be voting in favor of the Walter T. Bergen School field lighting project? Then tell us why or why not in the comments below.