Government

South Seaside Park Residents Debate Tax Protest As Rift Deepens Between Towns

by
Daniel Nee
July 21, 2026

Seaside Park welcome sign. (Photo: Shorebeat)

A bitter rift is developing between Seaside Park and Berkeley Township, with South Seaside Park residents threatening a creative protest over their tax dollars being collected by a town in which they no longer live.

“Why do you think we wanted to leave?” asked South Seaside Park resident Kathy Fulcomer, referring to the fact that it appears property tax revenue paid by the residents of her community – now part of Seaside Park borough – would still flow to Berkeley Township through the end of the year.

Seaside Park annexed the neighborhood at the request of residents after they fought a decade-long battle to leave Berkeley Township, which is located nearly a half-hour away across Barnegat Bay. The state Supreme Court ruled last year that the residents could leave if Seaside Park would accept them as part of the borough through an annexation process. New Jersey statutes call for an orderly deannexation and annexation process, however Seaside Park officials have now asked the court to intervene after they say Berkeley Township has been uncooperative on all fronts, even to the extent of refusing to work out a deal to transfer beach badges, maintain handicap parking signs and turn over zoning map data. The most heated of issues is the fact that residents of the neighborhood are still having their property taxes being collected by Berkeley Township even though Seaside Park is now providing their services, with officials at the county tax office maintaining that such a decision was promulgated by the state Attorney General’s office. Purportedly, the property tax revenue will still be collected by Berkeley until the first quarter of 2027.

“Was it a recommendation?” from the state AG’s office, asked Fulcomer. “A directive? Did it have the force of law?”

Seaside Park officials, as frustrated as their residents, say it was unclear.

“No member of the governing body was given notice, no member of this governing body was allowed to participate, and our attorney was not given any notice,” said Mayor John Peterson. “Does that give the basis of another lawsuit? Perhaps. Do we want to spend that money for legal fees? Perhaps.”

Route 35 South in South Seaside Park. (Credit: Monmouth-Ocean MLS)

Fulcomer said some fellow residents whose property tax bills are not being collected as part of their mortgage payment are threatening a creative protest: making checks with their property tax payments out to the “Borough of Seaside Park” instead of the “Township of Berkeley.” Fulcomer also asked Seaside Park officials if Berkeley is keeping track of the money being paid by residents of Seaside Park so the revenue can eventually be turned over. Once again, Seaside Park officials said they were being kept in the dark and are being forced to turn to the courts to find an answer. Peterson said a computer-literate young person could likely write a script that could parse the block and lot numbers of property owners to transfer the tax data “in an hour.”

“We could figure out the tax bills – ‘here’s the portion that goes to the municipality, here’s the portion that goes to the schools,’ – and have an automatic pass-through from Berkeley Township to Seaside Park for every single payment made,” said Peterson. “Case closed, over, easy. Unfortunately, Berkeley Township has not done so, so they want our taxpayers to ask a court to do it. Believe me, we will do it, and we’ll ask for any and all relief under the law to be paid to Seaside Park.”

After Bay Beach Way, once under the jurisdiction of Toms River, left that town and was annexed by Lavallette in the early 2000s, there was a “spirited debate” between those two towns over some leftover debt and financial settlements, said Peterson, but relations remained civil. The same has not been true of the process further south on the barrier island, he said.

“They fought over whether money was due to either side, and they took those issues all the way to the appellate court,” said Peterson. “But from day one, both of those municipalities acted reasonably and had a side agreement that carved out the municipal part of the bill was to be paid immediately to the borough of Lavallette. That’s what reasonable municipalities in a dispute do.”

Fulcomer said she would be within her right to attend a Berkeley Township meeting and question whether that town could place a tax lien on her home even though she no longer lives there – as well as inquire whether the money from South Seaside Park residents was being held, or was being spent by Berkeley as part of their general fund.

“We don’t really know,” said Peterson. “Please, take the floor, complain, and ask for answers.”