Since 1961, New Jerseyans have consistently voted to make preserv ing open space a top public priority. They did so again last fall, approving a $200 million bond issue to continue to save open land despite the stumbling economy and even as they rejected an initiative to jump- start stem cell research here.

That $200 million was a stopgap. It will be gone by the end of this year, allocated to purchase farmland, woodland and wetlands, to improve parks and to preserve historic sites.

Gov. Jon Corzine and lawmakers should have had the gumption then to propose a permanent solution for such a popular program. And why, with a few notable exceptions, aren't they tackling the issue now?

They should be. A survey a few months ago showed more than 60 percent of potential voters want the state's Green Acres and farmland preservation to go on, whether funded by another, much larger bond issue, by dedicating sales tax revenue or even charging the average household a fee of about $32 a year on water use.

Corzine, understandably, doesn't want to divert funds from existing programs to buy open space. He favors finding new revenue for the job. Legislators, however, are scared of proposing anything that re quires new cash.

In the past, New Jersey has always considered open space so important that money was found without inventing a new revenue stream. Even Gov. Christie Whitman used sales tax revenues to fund her bold, 10-year land acquisition program -- the one that ran out of funds last year and is now barely holding on.

The governor and legislators may be leery of surveys and polls. But the historical record shows Jerseyans have consistently supported paying for open space because they understand that having breathing room in the nation's most densely populated state is es sential to a decent quality of life.

There is no chance that lawmakers will call a special ses sion to put an open space bond issue on this November's ballot. But they don't have to let open space purchases wither away. This fall they should enact a modest water use fee that will keep Green Acres and farmland preservation efforts humming.

New Jerseyans shouldn't balk at paying the equivalent of 8.7 cents a day to bankroll the programs. Particularly if they are asked to constitutionally dedicate the money for open space so that Trenton can never divert the cash for anything else.