The school district decided against going back to voters a third time with a referendum April 16 for school expansion and repairs.
By: Carl Reader
WEST AMWELL The South Hunterdon Board of Education had a number of options in its continuing battle to renovate and rebuild South Hunterdon High School.
But at a meeting March 21, it appeared to choose the option most voters could live with. And it confirmed that decision at a budget hearing Monday.
The board decided to add a half million dollars to next year’s budget to begin funding required for renovations to such things as the fire alarm system, the boiler, the roof and a leaky gas line. The board gave final approval to a revised budget of $6,933,138 Monday.
The board finally decided to vote that way March 21 after more than four hours of deliberation and listening to voters’ comments at the meeting. The March 21 meeting was not advertised as a public meeting, but one to give direction to Business Administrator Stephanie Hope on how to finalize the budget. The board had to wait until Monday’s meeting, which was advertised as a public hearing, to finalize the vote on the budget. The public now will vote on the budget at the April 16 school elections.
What to repair first at the school has not been decided.
"For me, this is not the best solution," board member David Moraski said of the vote to add money to next year’s budget.
But it did appear to be the option hacked out of voter discord, which resulted in the March 12 rejection of the board’s proposed $11.8 million referendum and a pragmatic approach to finding a way to pay for fixes no one appears willing to pay for.
The referendum was defeated by six votes, and a subsequent recount by the Board of Elections upheld that margin, finding no discrepancies in what was reported by Lambertville on voting machines, according to Superintendent Cheryl Simone. The school board can’t ask for a recount, but citizens can, Dr. Simone said.
Mr. Moraski proposed adding the money to the budget, one of six options outlined by board President Allie Meehan.
At least it appeared it was adopted March 21 for final approval at the public hearing Monday. After voting 4-3 for the option of adding a half million dollars to the budget, Mr. Meehan said that was the way the board would go at the public hearing.
But Mr. Moraski said, "It didn’t pass. We need a majority of the board. We need five votes."
That sent board members and bond counsel Lisa Gorab scrambling through the rules of order for adopting the measure. The board finally concluded it was all right to instruct itself to ask for the half million, but to adopt the budget it would need to vote that way at the special public meeting.
With some quick calculations prior to the vote, Mr. Moraski came up with a figure of $1.8 million that would need to be added to the budget to fund all the necessary repairs and renovations to the high school. That would translate to approximately $275 to $280 extra dollars in property taxes for Lambertville homeowners, he estimated.
"That is just a very rough estimate," he said.
But the board decided it did not want to allocate that much money in one year.
From the beginning of the meeting, the room was split between vocal and emotional yes-and-no voters for the referendum.
Resident Richard Anthes, a candidate for the school board, said he had received his new assessment on his house and said $30,000 more in value had been added to his home. He said if the referendum had passed, it would have added $200 more to his tax bill. He said interest on the $11.8 million, or rather the $7.4 million that would have been paid by taxpayers, would have amounted to more than $9 million, which Mrs. Gorab contested. She took out her calculator and said the cost in interest would be more in the $5 million range over 25 years.
According to projections from the board, a Lambertville resident with a home valued at $200,000 in Lambertville will pay an additional $144.50 for the 2002 tax year, according to figures supplied by Mrs. Hope. That’s based on a tax rate of about 96 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
In Stockton, the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay an additional $21, according to Mrs. Hope’s figures. The tax rate would be 69.4 cents.
In West Amwell, the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay an additional $78.54, according to Mrs. Hope’s figures, based on a tax rate of 68 cents.
Board architect Armand Christopher warned all night long March 21 that the longer the school had to wait for its upgrades, the more expensive they would be, due to ever-rising construction costs.
The board was warned by several residents if both the budget and the referendum were proposed April 16, then both could be defeated.
Both yes-and-no voters argued their cases, with some complaining new features like offices were not needed, and others claiming South Hunterdon students were getting shortchanged on their education by a dilapidated, dangerous building with antiquated, insufficient features, including cramped office space.
Prior to the vote, the board had rejected one option to go out in April for another bond referendum.
"Sometimes you have to make the tough choice," board Vice President Doug Coleman said when trying unsuccessfully March 21 to get a motion passed to go out for another referendum.
Besides adding money to next year’s budget or having another referendum April 16, Mr. Meehan had suggested other options.
One was to do nothing. The positive in that would be the tax impact would be minimal. The negative would be safety issues would not be addressed.
The second option was to appeal to the state commissioner of education to overturn the referendum vote. That would fund the complete $11.8 million project, but it would go against the will of the voters, who rejected the referendum March 12 by six votes. It also could take up to nine months for the commissioner to decide the case, and the school would lose control of the project, which would be taken over by the state.
Another option was a scaled-back referendum. That would involve going back to the drawing board. The referendum would not be ready until December. It also would involve paying more fees and funding more studies.