{"id":3484,"date":"2025-12-18T08:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/?p=3484"},"modified":"2025-12-18T08:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:51:11","slug":"why-floodplain-buyouts-are-a-smart-investment-for-nj-towns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/why-floodplain-buyouts-are-a-smart-investment-for-nj-towns\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Floodplain Buyouts Are a Smart Investment for NJ Towns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right\"><em>December 18, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Floodplain buyouts may reduce property tax revenue in the short term\u2014but over time, they save municipalities millions in avoided flood damage, emergency response, and infrastructure costs. With smart planning, towns can even preserve or grow their tax base. Here&#8217;s why buyouts are a smart investment for New Jersey communities.<\/p>\n<p>New Jersey towns are facing more frequent and severe flooding. Rebuilding the same homes repeatedly is costly\u2014for residents and for local governments. The cycle of flood, repair, and repeat is unsustainable and incurs an emotional toll on residents beyond the financial losses.<\/p>\n<p>Programs like NJDEP\u2019s Blue Acres help towns purchase flood-prone properties and return the land to open space. Over 1,200 families have already relocated to safer ground. But some towns are concerned about losing tax ratables.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Financial Case: Buyouts Save More Than They Cost<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Cost Effectiveness of Buyouts Loss Avoidance Study (2025) in Manville, NJ found that a 2002 buyout project saved more than twice its cost in avoided flood damages.<\/li>\n<li>A paper published in Natural Hazards Review (2020) by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers showed that buyouts reduce long-term costs for infrastructure, emergency response, and recovery.<\/li>\n<li>The Nature Conservancy (2021) reports that every $1 spent on buyouts saves $5-$9 in future disaster costs.<\/li>\n<li>A 2019 study from the National Institute of Building Sciences, titled <em>Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves<\/em>, that indicates a benefit of better than 6:1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3489\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3489\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3489 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/175\/buyout-flood-benefits-graph-1024x722.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"722\" srcset=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/buyout-flood-benefits-graph-1024x722.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/buyout-flood-benefits-graph-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/buyout-flood-benefits-graph-768x542.jpg 768w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/blueacres\/buyout-flood-benefits-graph.jpg 1209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3489\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graph taken from https:\/\/nibs.org\/projects\/natural-hazard-mitigation-saves-2019-report.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>The US Chamber of Commerce\u2019s 2024 report <em>The Preparedness Payoff<\/em> says that every dollar invested in resilience saves $13: $7 in economic impact plus $6 in cleanup costs.<\/li>\n<li>The US Chamber of Commerce\u2019s 2025 report <em>Beyond the Payoff<\/em> says that for communities in river and coastal regions, every dollar not invested in flood resilience today can <strong>cost<\/strong> <strong>up to $25<\/strong> in lost future economic activity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What About Property Taxes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While buyouts remove properties from the tax rolls, studies show this impact can be managed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wharton School (2018): Towns can\u00a0retain or grow\u00a0their tax base by encouraging residents to relocate within the same municipality.<\/li>\n<li>Pew Charitable Trusts (2022): Strategic planning can help towns\u00a0balance resilience and revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What about Property Values near buyouts?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe models indicate that every buyout property within a quarter-mile radius leads to a $410 lower residential property value (SE of $144), and that every acre of bought-out property is associated with a $2,873 lower property value (SE of $809). The buyout coefficients are dwarfed by the negative effect of the home being in a flood zone, which the models found to be associated with an approximately $21,400 decrease in property value. Being within 200 feet of the flood zone was associated with an approximately $11,655 decrease. For reference, the average sale price of these homes was $585,500.\u201d (Freudenberg et al, 2023).<\/p>\n<p>This suggests that although buyouts lower nearby home values, the drop is much smaller compared to the impact of being close to a flood zone, which can reduce a home&#8217;s value by tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Than Money: Building Resilient Communities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Rutgers Climate Resource Center (2023) emphasizes that buyouts can promote equity, reduce risk, and create open space that benefits the whole community\u2014like parks, wetlands, and flood buffers.<\/p>\n<p>Floodplain buyouts are not just about recovery\u2014they\u2019re about\u00a0resilience. With the right planning, they protect people, save money, and help towns build a safer, more sustainable future.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn More:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/b453bd3d08bc405d8c0fcfe68a8d6c08\">The Cost Effectiveness of Buyouts (2025)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.org\/content\/dam\/tnc\/nature\/en\/documents\/Buyouts_Lessons_Learned_Siders_Gerber_Chavez_TNC_Full_Report_2021.pdf\">The Nature Conservancy Report (2021)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pew.org\/-\/media\/assets\/2022\/03\/property-buyouts-can-be-an-effective-solution-for-flood-prone-communities.pdf\">Pew Report (2022)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ascelibrary.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1061\/%28ASCE%29NH.1527-6996.0000380\">Floodplain Buyouts and Municipal Finance (BenDor, Salvesen, Kamrath, &amp; Ganser 2020)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/security\/the-preparedness-payoff-the-economic-benefits-of-investing-in-climate-resilience\">The Preparedness Payoff (2024)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/security\/beyond-the-payoff-how-investments-in-resilience-and-disaster-preparedness-protect-communities\">Beyond the Payoff (2025)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/njclimateresourcecenter.rutgers.edu\/resources\/better-buyouts-opportunities-and-challenges-to-enhance-strategic-climate-resilience-in-new-jersey-through-purchase-of-flood-prone-properties\/\">Rutgers Better Buyouts Report, Vol. 1 (2023)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sonj.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/s\/OfficeofClimateResilience\/IQDRBeGiE38-T5pJaxuAvVyYAXA5WYGQ0Wjb7QIHE1gKYic?e=x1qTNx\">Better-Buyouts-Task-3-Report formatted.pdf<\/a> Freudenberg, Robert, et.al. September 2023. <em>Quantifying the impacts of flood buyouts on property values and municipal finances: Volume 2.<\/em> Prepared for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ New Brunswick, NJ.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/impact.wharton.upenn.edu\/news\/must-floodplain-buyouts-decrease-tax-revenue\/\">Wharton Impact Article (2018)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lincolninst.edu\/publications\/policy-focus-reports\/buy-in-for-buyouts\">Lincoln Institute Report (2016)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 18, 2025 Floodplain buyouts may reduce property tax revenue in the short term\u2014but over time, they save municipalities millions in avoided flood damage, emergency response, and infrastructure costs. With smart planning, towns can even preserve or grow their tax base. Here&#8217;s why buyouts are a smart investment for New Jersey communities. New Jersey towns [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3484"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3513,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484\/revisions\/3513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/blueacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}