Freeholder Director Bruce Garganio announced that the Board of Chosen Freeholders has awarded the county’s 2014 Municipal Park Development Grants, which allow for up to $5 million to be distributed amongst municipalities to assist in the creation and improvement of local outdoor recreation facilities.
This is the fifth year in which such grants, which have been used to build and improve local parks, trails, ball fields and other recreational facilities, have been allocated as part of the county’s national award-winning Municipal Park Development Program.
“When we created this program our goals were to assist the municipalities, all of which had been hit hard by the struggling economy, and to allow those towns that pay the farmland preservation and open space tax, but that do not have farmland to preserve, to participate in the program in a meaningful way,” Garganio said.
“To date we have awarded nearly $20 million and the worthwhile projects these awards have facilitated are visible throughout the county.
“We look forward to the new opportunities that this year’s grants will offer to our townships,” Garganio said.
The grant program is funded through the county’s dedicated Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. No municipal cost share or “match” is required to receive this grant funding. However, the funding is exclusively for hard costs, such as construction and repair of facilities, and not for the purchase of equipment or for operational and maintenance costs. Funds may be applied to the acquisition of recreational land.
The National Association of Counties awarded the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholder’s with a 2014 Achievement Award for the Municipal Park Development Grant Program.
Projects to be funded with this year’s awards will include renovations at the Dingletown and Saddlebrook Ridge Recreation Complex in Shamong.
