Officials call increase one of the county’s lowest
By:David Koch
FLORENCE The Florence Township Board of Education passed a $15.6 million budget Tuesday night that school officials said represents one of the lowest school tax rate increases in Burlington County.
The proposed budget would increase the local school tax rate by 5 cents to $1.723 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
An owner of a home at the average township assessment of $109,100 would pay an additional $59 in school taxes for a total of $1,880.
The 2002 budget would raise a total of $8.4 million through local school taxes.
Board Secretary Bruce Benedetti said the district’s tax increase is one of the lowest in Burlington County this year.
According to information handed out during the school board meeting, Medford residents are expected to see an 18.5-cent increase in local school taxes this year and Burlington Township’s school district tax rate may increase by 17.5 cents.
"We tried to resourcefully and creatively meet the needs of students in our care and I think we did that effectively," said Superintendent Gerard Steffe. "We also kept in mind the needs of our residents."
The 2002 budget is an increase of $700,000 from last year.
Officials said increased items in the budget include special education and salaries and benefits for teachers.
The school district will receive an increase of $60,000 in state aid this year for Core Curriculum Standards and Special Education Aid for a total of $6.6 million.
Residents will have a chance to vote on the school budget and school board elections on April 16.
Some parents at the school board meeting said this year’s budget was just a maintenance budget.
"This is very serious, because a maintenance budget is not going to improve the education of our children," said local resident and parent Ann Hartman.
"I would like to see an evaluation of this school or a comparison between our school system and other systems in the area," said Ms. Hartman after the meeting.
Officials at the meeting said the proposed budget will increase textbook expenditure by $67,000 from last year for a total of $141,708.
The new budget will spend money on health, math, social studies, and science textbooks for the district’s middle school and high school.
Curriculum Director Bernard D’Emidio said the district will spend $110 for each student in grades two through six to improve the reading program.
Officials said improvements included the purchase of new reading textbooks.
"We’ve been operating on a textbook budget that could be considered maintenance," said Mr. D’Emidio. "For a while, we have not taken any major revisions."