BRICK – Roosters will no longer be permitted as backyard pets if the governing body gives final approval on an ordinance that was introduced at the most recent council meeting.
The ordinance was drafted after a series of complaints from residents about noise from roosters in residential areas.
“Residents with complaints are directed to call the police, and they have to file a noise complaint,” said Council Vice President Derrick T. Ambrosino.
“Most don’t want to bother the police – that’s understandable – and they also recognize that enforcement is very difficult for an officer, because an officer actually has to be present at the time of the excessive noise, which as you can imagine, is going to be very early in the morning and very loud.”
The current law allows roosters to be kept in an enclosure after receiving a permit from the township zoning office. Those would be grandfathered in, Ambrosino said.
The new ordinance would specifically prohibit any new roosters throughout the township’s residential neighborhoods, he said.
Councilman Gregory J. Cohen said he didn’t know roosters were a problem.
“I can’t believe we’re up here talking about roosters,” he said. “I’m in favor of addressing noise…but it’s the first time on council I’ve been asked to ruffle this many feathers over a wake-up call.”
Township Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said the roosters crow all day long, not just in the morning.
“That’s part of the problem,” she said. “I think we could all bear a few minutes first thing in the morning…but it’s just a constant stream throughout the day, and they just don’t seem to get any respite from it – it’s the second biggest complaint we get.”
In other news, the Ocean County Board of Taxation has notified the township that the township must start the reevaluation process, said Councilwoman Lisa Reina.
“This resolution authorizes the receipt of proposals for that work,” she said. “The township has not performed a reevaluation since 2010.”
The reevaluation process serves to achieve an equitable distribution of the tax burden within the township, she added.
Councilman Cohen asked Business Administrator Bergin if the township had requested an extension of the reevaluation.
Bergin said the township did not consider that option because the state and county “basically tells you when it’s your time,” and the process takes so long to start that it would “just be kicking the can down the road, unnecessarily.”
The reevaluation does not automatically result in a tax increase, Bergin said, but rather it is to ensure that the assessed amount is appropriate to a home’s value.
“So, some people do see an increase, but some people do see a decrease and some people see no change,” she said.
It’s a process the township goes through to be sure that people are paying the adequate taxes for the properties that they own, Bergin said. “It’s not an excuse for a tax increase.”
Council Vice President Ambrosino called the reevaluation “a rebalancing of who pays what in taxes…it is not an instance where the township is all of a sudden taxing more dollars than they were before.”
Council President Steve Feinman noted that the reevaluations need to be completed by November 1, 2028 and go into effect in 2029.
During public comment, resident Joe Lamb, who is a CPA, said the reason for a reevaluation is that some properties accelerate in value a lot faster than others, and continue to pay the same tax rate so “people at the lower end are penalized over every year that this is held off.”
And finally, Councilman Vince Minichino announced that he would be resigning from the governing body for personal reasons.
Minichino has served as a council member since 2019.
The next Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 13 at 7 p.m.
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