The uncertainty of state aid has left districts treading water.
By: Steve Rauscher
MONTGOMERY As the March deadline to submit a school budget approaches, district administrators reluctantly released this year’s preliminary figures, emphasizing that the dearth of hard numbers from the state Department of Education made projecting a budget nearly impossible.
"These aren’t estimates, they’re guesstimates," Business Administrator Jim Strimple said. "We’re administrators, and we like to deal in definites. We don’t have any definites at this point."
A projected budget shortfall of nearly $3 billion this year and more than $6 billion next year at the state level has left the administration of Gov. James E. McGreevey frantic to cut costs in the short run and tight-lipped about where next year’s cuts will be made. As a result, school districts across New Jersey have been left treading water, unable to formulate definitive projections.
"We haven’t received any information from the state," Superintendent Stuart Schnur said. "Since we’re not going to receive our budget numbers until after (the governor’s budget address) March 26, I have a hard time seeing how we’re going to present a budget on March 7."
Mr. Strimple and Dr. Schnur presented the district’s preliminary budget estimates to the Board of Education on Monday night, showing a net budget of slightly more than $40.7 million. The figure did not reflect the district’s annual debt service, which raises the total budget to $47.5 million.
Mr. Strimple said the present estimates place the district about $460,000 over the state-mandated 3-percent spending cap, though the state has yet to release any of its spending growth limitation adjustment figures, such as annual enrollment adjustments and transportation funding, which determine which portions of the budget fall under the state’s budget cap restrictions.
The state also has yet to release the amount of aid it will provide the district, though it is safe to say the district won’t receive more aid than it did last year, Mr. Strimple said.
"We’ve got about one-third of the picture right now," he told the board.
If the present estimates remain unchanged, they represent an increase of about 14 percent from the current year’s $41.8 million budget, 11 percent if the budget is brought in beneath the current cap estimate.
The district raised about 87 percent of last year’s revenue from local property taxes, at a rate of $1.61 per $100 of assessed value. If that percentage remains the same, this year’s tax rate, based on the projected budget increase, would be about $1.60 per $100 of assessed value. Though the rate is 1 cent lower, many property owners may pay more in taxes because the average assessed value of a home in Montgomery has increased to $381,000 from $335,303 last year.
At next year’s projected tax rate, the owner of a home assessed at the township average would pay $6,096, an increase of about 13 percent from the current year’s average of $5,398.
Mr. Strimple said the increases are mostly attributable to the need to hire more teachers and support staff. The district also plans to upgrade some of its audio-visual and computer technology.
"(New staff) is always the biggest increase," Mr. Strimple said. "The increases this year are not as big as in the last few years."
Dr. Schnur told the board he had received indications that the district would receive roughly the same amount of aid from the state this year as last year, but he could not be sure whether that referred to the total amount or the amount per pupil.
But regardless of the state’s input into the process, he said, the district is confident it can whittle the budget to fit beneath the cap.
"We’re probably going to have to work down to a lower number," he said. "But we will be able to do it."