Churches Among Morris County Institutions To Begin Receiving Preservation Funds

Twelve Morris County grant applicants approved for monies from a preservation trust fund will soon be receiving their agreed upon allotments, according to a Daily Record article.

Morris County freeholders began the process of distributing monies from an approved $2.7 million in historic preservation trust fund grants late last week, says a Daily Record article. Approximately a third of the approved grantees--10 of the 32 approved applicants--include religious institutions, the taxpayer funding of which is currently in the spotlight.

David Steketee, on the behalf of the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed the lawsuit last December in a New Jersey state court against Morris County and county officials, challenging the granting of taxpayer dollars to repair or maintain any non-secular institution. The foundation, according to their site, are contesting grants to churches by Morris County's Historic Preservation Trust Fund.

Since 2012, FFRFF states that Morris County has awarded 55% of its total assets to churches, which amounts to approximately $5.5 million. FFRF states that some of the grants, specifically $1.04 million in allocations to the Presbyterian Church in Morristown and allotments to the St. Peter's Episcopal Church, are in violation of Article I, Paragraph 3 of the New Jersey Constitution, guaranteeing: "nor shall any person be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or other rates for building or repairing any church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right."

Despite the lawsuit, Morris County freeholders last week began the process of distributing funds that earlier in the summer had already been approved. This past Wednesday, the freeholders voted to begin distributing funds to these institutions, according to the Daily Record: $12,800 to St. Peter's in Mountain Lakes for work on the roof and the parish hall; $160,000 to First Reformed Church of Pompton Plains for exterior work and other projects; $29,600 to St. Mark's Episcopal Church Mendham for archaeological investigations; and $144,760 to the Church of the Assumption in Morristown for various projects. According to the Daily Recordstory, each of these applicants is required to match the grants.

Image via St. Peter's Episcopal Church, used under Creative Commons.