Howell school board cuts $1.2 million from local tax levy
HOWELL — The Board of Education has trimmed $1.2 million from the local tax levy it expected to collect from property owners to support the 2002-03 budget.
On Monday, the board adopted a budget totaling $82 million for the 2002-03 school year. The budget will be supported by a tax levy of $47.5 million.
Those figures differ slightly from the tentative budget the board introduced several weeks ago. That spending plan totaled $83 million and carried a local tax levy of $48.7 million.
The budget during the 2001-02 school year totals $80.5 million. Debt service in the current year’s budget was $6 million.
Under the $82 million budget adopted by the board on Monday, debt service in 2002-03 will amount to $5.8 million.
There was a measure of good news delivered by the board on Monday. Initially, board members projected an increase in the local school tax rate of 12.8 cents. That would have raised the tax rate from $1.572 to $1.70 per $100 of assessed valuation.
With a total of $47.5 million to be raised by local taxation, the budget adopted by the board this week reflects an in-crease in the local school tax rate of 10.4 cents, from $1.572 to $1.676 per $100 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay local school taxes of about $3,352 in 2002-03, up from $3,144 in 2001-02.
Under the previous budget introduced by the board, the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 would have paid about $3,400 in local school taxes in 2002-03.
Also contained in Monday’s budget adoption was a 3.5 percent increase in employee benefits. Assistant Superinten-dent-Business Administrator Herb Massa has said the rise in employee benefits reflects the rising cost of health insurance.
School board member Robert Antonac-cio, who is chairman of the board’s finance committee, said, "This is a no-frills budget, basically a maintenance budget."
In the face of a multibillion dollar deficit in the state budget and under orders from Gov. James McGreevey, state aid for the 2002-03 school year was not increased over school districts’ 2001-02 aid level.
In a statement released Tuesday, Edwina M. Lee, executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association, said, "Local districts have been cutting enrichment programs, implementing larger class sizes and postponing the hiring of new teachers in the face of growing enrollment. We are feeling the pain and have responded to the governor’s call to do with less. But even with spending cuts, many school districts will still have to seek additional revenue from local property taxes because ‘hold harmless’ state aid does not make up for increases in insurance, transportation and contractual obligations. Voters need to understand that when they go to the polls on April 16" to vote on their local school budget.
— Kathy Baratta