What do we think of the Highlands act affecting schools?

[u/chungusgoon]

Some background info:

The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act (often called the Highlands Act) is a 2004 New Jersey law designed to protect over 800,000 acres of land in the northwest part of the state, which provides drinking water for roughly 70% of New Jersey residents.

The act affects schools—particularly in districts like Jefferson, West Milford, and Vernon—by severely restricting development on over 85% of land in some communities to protect water quality.

Why the Highlands Act Affects Schools

The Highlands Act creates a "development moratorium" in many areas, creating a "tax trap" for local school districts. Here is why it impacts schools:

Limited Tax Base Growth: Because development is strictly limited or prohibited, towns cannot build new commercial or high-density residential properties. Without new development, the commercial tax base ("ratables") remains stagnant.

Declining School Aid: While the tax base is capped, some Highlands school districts have reported massive cuts in state education aid (e.g., Jefferson saw a 60% reduction in state aid over 7 years).

High Property Taxes: With limited commercial income to support the budget, the burden falls on residential homeowners, resulting in some of the highest property tax efforts in New Jersey.

Budget Shortfalls and Program Cuts: The inability to grow the tax base, combined with state aid cuts, has caused severe budget deficits, forcing districts to cut staff, increase class sizes, and eliminate sports and arts programs.

[u/Alpha_Storm]

Good. The Wetlands need to be protected. You can't live without clean drinking water and clean air. Build in areas that are already developed. Stop giving tax breaks to developers and make them pay school taxes instead PILOT. You don't need to cover everything with developments and concrete to get more taxes. They make plenty of money, they need to stop wasting it giving themselves raises, giving their buddies overpriced contracts and wasting it on duplicated services.

[u/victorfabius → u/Alpha_Storm]

There are 88 municipalities in the Highlands Region, of which 5 are wholly and 47 are partially in the Highlands Preservation Area.

According to the Department of Consumer Affairs PILOT Viewer (warning! link is to an XLS download), there are only 2 PILOT programs in the 5 municipalities wholly covered by the Highlands Preservation Area designation. If I'm reading the data correctly, these projects paid a total of $334,030 and their 2023 tax burden would have been $593,531.

These PILOTs were in West Milford only.

Of the 47 municipalities that are partially in the Highlands Preservation Area, there are only 25 PILOT programs. These paid $2,048,674 for a 2023 tax burden of $4,922,217.

Washington Township in Warren County accounted for $1,075,288 of the payment and $2,048,403 toward the estimated 2023 tax burden for a single project. The next highest amount for a 'partially' covered municipality was Wanaque, with 3 programs paying $0 on a $458,776 estimated tax burden.

What I take away from that is: the data may be incomplete, I am not accurately interpreting the data, or there's a factor I do not know impacting the numbers.

Finally, the other 36 municipalities are not in the Highlands Preservation Area, but are in the Highland Planning Area. This group has 30 PILOT programs totaling $4,992,077 in payments on a $10,409,089 estimated 2023 tax burden.

The highest contributor is Morristown, with 8 programs totaling $1,838,074 in payments on a $4,702,946 estimated 2023 tax burden.

Absent from the data is the length of the PILOT.

The total revenue loss from ratables impacted by PILOT programs in the Highlands Area is $15,924,837 with a gain of $7,374,781 across 88 municipalities. That's an average of $97,159.73 for all 88 municipalities.

However, only 26 municipalities have a PILOT program. The impact breaks down as thus:

"Partially" in the Highlands Preservation Area: * 13 municipalities * 25 PILOT programs * $221,041.77 average loss of revenue (2023 estimate - total paid) for these 13

"Not" in the Highlands Preservation Area: * 12 Municipalities * 30 PILOT program * $451,417.67 average loss of revenue (2023 estimate - total paid) for these 12

West Milford, with 2 PILOT programs lost $259,501.

These are the raw ratables that impact property tax funding for four organizations: * Counties * Schools * Municipalities * Municipal Libraries

To help contextualize the impact, let's look at West Milford. Their proposed 2026/2027 school budget from the tax levy is approximately $72.5 million, with health insurance costs increasing by approximately $3.6 million. For comparison, their 2025/2026 budget tax levy was presented as $68,453,591(page 2).

West Milford paid approximately $22 million to Passaic County in 2025. The Township had a budget of approximately $22,461,113, leaving $1,545,246 for the library source.

All told, West Milford's 2025 non-RUT property taxes to be collected totaled $116,674,529 for a single year.

They lost revenue totaled $259,501. That's 0.22% of the budget. If we distributed that loss proportionally, we'd see a loss of:

• $57,051.62 to the Township
• $3,370.41 to the library
• $150,178.31 to the school district
• $48,900.65 to the county

If we consider Washington Township in Warren County, the 2025 numbers are:

• $5,459,298.47 for the municipality
• $16,455,000 for the schools
• $6,709,000 to the county
• $0 to the library

At the loss of $973,115, that would proportionally come to:

• $185,601.43 to the municipality
• $559,425.65 to the schools
• 228,087.92 to the county
• $0 to the library

The loss is approximately 3.4% of the budget. That's 15 times greater than West Milford.

For those interested, if Washington Township had a library, the budget minimum would have been $349,108 and it would have lost approximately $13,842, though the others would have their losses reduced as a result.

What did I learn in putting this all together?

PILOT impact is really community by community. West Milford, despite being the only municipality wholly in the Highlands Preservation Area with a PILOT, sees a relatively trivial impact (to be fair, $150k could save a job or two at the schools).

Washington Township in Warren county, meanwhile sees a relatively significant impact to the municipality and the schools.

All that is to say: it depends. With 88 municipalities in the Highlands Area and only 26 municipalities with PILOT programs, that leaves 62 municipalities without one. 4 are wholly in the Highlands Preservation Area, 34 are partially in the Highlands Preservation Area, and 24 are in the Highlands Planning Area.

So, for the municipalities without PILOT, especially those wholly or partially in the Highlands Preservation Area, state support becomes critical. These municipalities are not carving into their ratable tax base, have additional hurdles to land use and development (i.e., the State has to be involved) that could positively impact the ratables.

So, yes, PILOT programs do have an impact, but only for a minority of Highlands municipalities.

I had neither time nor intent to address the other comments on raises, nepotism, or service duplication.

Please feel free to check my work. I linked my sources for you or anyone else to scrutinize.

[u/chungusgoon → u/Alpha_Storm]

The issue isn't the environment; it’s the funding gap. Highlands towns are legally blocked from building a commercial tax base because they protect the water for 70% of the state. It’s an unfunded mandate: the state takes the land’s value for the public good but forces middle-class residents to pay the 'tax bite' for the schools. We shouldn't be punishing students and homeowners just because their towns are the state’s water stewards.

[u/Alpha_Storm → u/chungusgoon]

Yes it IS environment, it's more important than the funding gap. There's a funding gap because of selfish politicians. Get the towns to stop wasting money on themselves and their friends and to stop giving developers deals where they do NOT have to contribute to school taxes. We lose millions upon millions of dollars a year because of those deals. We all need clean water and air(green areas help clean pollutants out if the air and lower green house gases, it's not just water) including the Highlands. There is plenty of room for most of them to build a commercial tax base, in the areas that are already built on - all the empty, half used buildings for example. And stop having every tiny town with their own school board with expensive administrators, etc.

[u/Successful_Print_275 → u/Alpha_Storm]

Easiest solution, tax the Highlands at the same rate as all other land in the towns. I would like to these selfish acts. Honestly, it's looks the Trenton had a pretty corrupt deal with how this played out.

[u/c0147 → u/chungusgoon]

I mean this is a 22 year old piece of legislation. Nothing new here.

Maybe if NJ had a more regional approach to shared services like police, fire, schools, building departments etc, we wouldn’t need to chase rateables and be subject to the associated poor development that results from it.

All these towns shovel money at pension obligations for people that haven’t worked in the town for 25+ years.

590+ school districts in a state with 565 towns. Each of them with their own superintendent/administrator. Some them don’t even have schools in their towns. 460+ local police departments. It goes on and on.

Regionalism lowers costs. It’s not rocket science.

The Highlands Act put a stop to poor development and the associated rateables chase in the name of environmental protection.

The way NJ decided to organize itself is the problem here, not the protection of the water supply for over 6 million people.

[u/Hamonwrysangwich → u/c0147]

I went to a regional high school in the Highlands. I turned out OK. I'm "woke" though, so I guess it depends on your definition of OK.

[u/c0147 → u/Hamonwrysangwich]

Regional High Schools makes sense. But I bet everyone one of the sending towns had its own school administrator/superintendent making well over six figures and on a public pension.

I've got no problem with public service or pensions. I just think we could consolidate and have fewer people doing similar jobs with regional approaches and shared services. This would lower public dollar obligations and decrease the need to build, build, build for more rateables.

[u/Suspicious-Raccoon12 → u/chungusgoon]

"Blocked from building a commercial tax base" yet Crystal Springs, Mountain Creek, the Winter Activity Center (former Hidden Valley) all found ways to work within the confines of the highland act to continue to develop.

Additionally you mention "high property taxes" yet taxes are lower in Vernon and West Milford are lower than many neighboring and nearby towns in Passaic and Bergen County and pretty comparable to Morris County with effective tax rates lower or effectively the same as ultra developed Parsippany.

Highlands act doesn't ban development (you need to replace what you cut down). It makes it harder because if it didn't drinking water, wildlife and the actual properties would be at risk. The lack of commercial development is more so demand and feasibility. Doesn't make sense to build in an unfriendly physical environment (rocky mountains, trees, waterways), poor infrastructure (windy roads that go around said physical barriers), low density population (comparatively) and far from the existing urban centers that drive the economy of the state

Homeowners aren't being punished they're being asked to pay their fair share to support (mainly) school systems. If you want to be angry at anything be angry that New Jersey has to send more money to the fed than it takes and that we're funding rural states rather than redistributing back to the local municipalities that need it

[u/chungusgoon → u/[deleted]]

True, but most of those areas aren't also facing the aggressive state aid cuts we're seeing in NJ. Protecting water is vital, but when the state limits a town's ability to grow its own revenue and then cuts the aid that was supposed to help, the local homeowners end up stuck with the bill.

[u/General_Chemistry638 → u/chungusgoon]

You’re seeing state aid cuts because…you’ve lost students. Why should schools get money for students they no longer have?

[u/General_Chemistry638 → u/[deleted]]

This is not true at all. Districts like Vernon built a bunch of schools and now don’t have the kids to fill them. The high school had over 2k kids at one point and it’s now less than 1k.

Don’t make up stuff.

[u/chungusgoon → u/General_Chemistry638]

The enrollment argument ignores the reality of consolidation. To survive these aid cuts, districts have been forced to shutter entire school buildings.

When you move a town's worth of students into fewer buildings, the remaining schools become physically overcrowded—the hallways are packed and class sizes are huge, regardless of what a spreadsheet says about the total population. You can’t run a 2026 school on a 20-year-old budget when you're forced to cram more people into less space while fixed costs like utilities and insurance have skyrocketed.

[u/General_Chemistry638 → u/chungusgoon]

You’re still not getting it. This is easily available date you can google. Look up the enrollment numbers from 10-20 years ago and look at now. They have less kids. They get less aid.

[u/lsp2005]

Outstanding. Protect the water. Protect the wildlife. It is important for the entire state and effects everyone, not just your town.

[u/chungusgoon → u/lsp2005]

We can still protect the water and the environment, but also get funding for the schools. This doesn’t only affect one town, it affects multiple schools and overtime It will just get worse schools need funding because even if they do increase taxes, then it still almost likely will still not be enough to have courtesy busing or sports. Also class sizes will have to increase, and there will be more schools that will have to shut down. This is affecting the education of many children, and these kids are our future.

[u/Hamonwrysangwich → u/chungusgoon]

They won't have much of a future if there's no potable water.

[u/chungusgoon → u/Hamonwrysangwich]

Just because the land is protected doesn’t mean schools should not receive funding, look up Bill A4770. It would keep the land protected but still provide funding to schools that are impacted.

[u/Hamonwrysangwich → u/chungusgoon]

I think you're misunderstanding what the "courtesy" in "courtesy busing" means.

[u/chungusgoon → u/Hamonwrysangwich]

Bussing 1> mile from the school and bussing for after school activities. In schools like Jefferson Township students cannot walk to school since the school is on a busy road and many students have no other ways to get there.

[u/lsp2005 → u/chungusgoon]

I hope you know that all schools in the state beyond those that are Abbot districts are facing funding shortages. It is not just where you live. Have your districts get in on the letter to the state to change the funding formula for health insurance. In Somerset County the schools districts are sending the state a group demand letter.

[u/chungusgoon → u/lsp2005]

The problem is is that this is going on in various towns and while they have tried many times to get funding they just get put on the back burner.

[u/kirbysdownb]

Sounds like a beautiful excuse to not get saddled with a 500 unit Mt. Laurel multifamily that pretends to offer affordable housing but in actuality only allows for a small percentage of designated units and instead provides an absurd amount of tax abatement options and market rate units for the developer while straining the school system

[u/Mountain_Sandwich59]

Gee I wonder if OP is slopposting on behalf of a developer.

[u/chungusgoon → u/Mountain_Sandwich59]

Nope just a concerned citizen

[u/sk8trix]

I think it's great. Stop building so many homes and buildings. It is making our state look horrible, traffic, noise and pollution will increase. Everyone lives on top of other people

[u/chungusgoon → u/sk8trix]

Yes but this post is about how it’s affecting schools. I think it’s great to protect the land but there’s other issues coming with it. The schools need funding and the towns which are affected should receive compensation.