The Cumberland County Board of Chosen Freeholders has voted to introduce an ordinance to establish a homeless trust fund and task force to oversee the fund.
BRIDGETON -- A new $3 fee on documents filed with the Cumberland County Clerk's Office would aid the local homeless community, advocates say.
Tuesday night, county freeholders voted 6 to 1 to introduce an ordinance to establish the Cumberland County Homeless Trust Fund along with a trust fund task force to oversee the use of the money.
"Morally this is the right thing to do," said Freeholder Director Joe Derella.
"We need to find a way to support the volunteers in their effort to help them reach their goal to completely eliminating homelessness in Cumberland County by 2020."
"If we can help them we should be doing this," the director said.
Officials have estimated that the fee which would be added to the cost of each document registered in the clerk's office could raise up to $75,000 a year which would go mainly toward housing programs for the homeless.
"We can use every bit of help that you can lend us in helping us solve this problem in our community," Bridgeton Mayor Albert Kelly told the freeholders.
"Thank you for showing the people of Cumberland County how much you care."
"Resources are terribly important when we are talking about the less fortunate," said Bill Whelan of Upper Deerfield Township, volunteer with Code Blue, the program which provides shelter to the homeless on the coldest winter nights.
He called the proposed fund "a very important resource that can be provided by the county."
Cumberland is not the first county to act to establish a trust fund aimed at providing housing and other services to the homeless. Bergen, Camden, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties already have such funds.
The ordinance will get a second reading and be up for final adoption on Feb. 23.
"You are fulfilling not only a moral obligation ... but I also want to emphasize that it's a fiscal obligation," said Rev. Robin Weinstein, one of the Code Blue founders and advocate for the homeless in Cumberland County. "What you are doing by investing in the homeless trust fund is making an investment in our community in our humanity and in long-term cost savings."
Weinstein said finding place to live for the homeless will have a major impact.
"If we are able to utilize these funds and other resources available to us, there's a potential of saving over a half a million dollars by putting people in homes ...," Weinstein said."
The money from the fund would be allowed to be used for a variety of services for the homeless including helping them finding permanent places to live and providing assistance to those on the brink of becoming homeless.
"It's not giving money away," Derella said of the fund. "There is a process."
He said will be up to the task force "to decide which projects are deserving," Derella said.
Freeholder Jim Sauro was the only board member voting against introducing the measure.
"I don't want people to think I'm against homeless people or helping them out," he said Wednesday.
Sauro said he sees the proposed $3 charge on items filed at the clerk's office as a tax, not a fee or surcharge.
He said the freeholder board has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants over the past few years to aid the homeless.
"Why don't we look at where we are spending that money to be sure it's going to the right places before we tax," Sauro said.
According to Derella county research has shown that more than 50 percent of the documents that would qualify for the $3 fee are filed in the clerk's office by companies and individuals from outside of Cumberland County.
Two members of the public also spoke out against the ordinance.
"I do not think this board should get involved -- at all," said Dean Hawk of Upper Deerfield. "I just think you are just overreaching. There is too much government now and this will add to the government."
"Basically what you are doing is taking my $3 fee and giving it to a non-profit organization, most likely, when I could donate to the non-profit organization and take a tax deduction," said Nancy Ridgway of Upper Deerfield.
"I don't think it's right of our government, our county government, to make it mandatory that we have to give a donation to ... a non-profit organization."
"You're going to have a homeless problem. It's not going to go away. It's been here since the beginning of time."
According to the ordinance introduced Tuesday night, five percent of the fund may be used by the county for administration of the fund.
Money collected must be used within four years or be transferred to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs which would contact with a community-based organization in Cumberland County to provide services to the homeless.
Among the members of the task force, according to the ordinance, would be at least one representative from the county, representatives from the towns with the greatest homeless population and at least three homeless or formerly homeless persons among others.
The trust fund would be one more step being taken in Cumberland County to combat homelessness.
The Code Blue to provide shelter on the most bitter nights to those with nowhere to go is in its third year. Begun in Bridgeton three years ago after a homeless man was found dead in a clothing bin, the volunteer effort now includes Millville and Bridgeton.
The M25 Initiative has been was started to raise funds to support the Code Blue program and the churches hosting shelters.
The Cumberland County Housing First Collaborative was created in late 2015 to help in the search for housing for the homeless.
Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow South Jersey Times on Twitter @TheSJTimes. Find NJ.com on Facebook.