Budget carrying 19-cent
tax hike sent to voters
OLD BRIDGE — The Board of Education unanimously voted Tuesday to adopt a budget for 2002-03 that totals more than $106 million and would raise school taxes for the average homeowner by $273.
The budget now goes before the voters in the April 16 school board election.
As presented, the budget would raise the school tax rate by 19 cents to $2.07 per $100 of assessed valuation. On the average township home, assessed at $144,000, school taxes would increase from $2,707 to $2,980 yearly.
Four cents of the proposed tax levy would be used toward the district’s $2.29 million debt payment, district officials have said. That payment serves as the first installment payment on a $66 million school construction project that will ultimately create one single high school campus. The district must repay $47 million borrowed to finance the construction over 30 years.
Because the voters approved the referendum in September, the district received $18.9 million in state grants to help finance that construction.
Rising health insurance premiums, a substantial increase in transportation costs, and increasing enrollment are all factors that have created for a school tax levy, district officials have said.
Although the district will still receive $35 million in state aid, the same amount as last year, district officials have stated that the amount will not cover increased operating costs. Consequently, taxpayers must supplement those expenses through increased school taxes, officials have said.
No one from the public spoke during an open hearing on the budget Tuesday night at the television studio at Old Bridge High School east campus.
Polls for the April 16 election will be open from 2 to 9 p.m.