Tax hike cut in half
By:Eric Schwarz
The Borough Council and Board of Education have cut in half the increase in the tax levy voters rejected April 18.
The two governing bodies agreed to cut $175,000 from the budget after an 80-minute meeting Friday, said Councilman Thomas J. Weiss.
Attending the meeting, Mr. Weiss said, were himself, council members Senga Allan and Michael Polak; school board members Phil Fuccille, James Kelly and Dorothy Bradley; board President Tim Calvo; School Superintendent Francis X. Heelan; and J. Ronald Gossett, the school business administrator.
School officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The total tax levy, as proposed, was $8.66 million, of a total $12.62 million budget for 2000-01.
The budget compromise represents half the proposed increase of 7 cents per $100 assessed value, or $96.60 on an average property assessed at $138,000.
Instead of the proposed tax rate of $1.62, the tax rate will be about $1.585. Taxes on an average house thus will rise $48.30 as a result of the compromise.
“We’re going to have to find out from them exactly what areas they are going to cut from,” Mr. Weiss said Wednesday. “They’re saying it will be cuts from existing programs.
“There were just a couple line items that we had questions about,” Mr. Weiss said.
“We walked in saying we would like (to cut) at least $175,000, and they agreed to it.”
“They would have preferred a zero cut,” Mr. Weiss said. “Because of the financial plight we’re in because of the hurricane, they knew they had to make cuts.”
He said the council will need to hold a special meeting by May 18 to accept the deal in order to certify the school tax rate by a May 19 deadline.
Meanwhile, a state Assembly bill to forgive $982,000 in state aid mistakenly awarded to Manville last year is advancing.
The Assembly Education Committee passed the bill unanimously on Monday, Dr. Heelan told the school board Tuesday. The bill was referred to the state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on March 20.
He said he gave the legislators a packet of materials on Manville’s school funding.
Manville taxpayers pay 72 percent of costs in the district, as opposed to an average of 54 percent of costs in other districts with a similar socioeconomic background, Dr. Heelan has reported.
The money was awarded because of a mistake in an aid application. After the mistake was discovered, the district set aside more than $400,000, leaving the school district to repay $500,000 if the state requires full reimbursement.
The 2000-01 school budget does not contain any money to repay the state. Repayment, if required, would begin the following year.