Budget trimming will lower tax hike from 7.5 to 7 cents

Staff Writer

By linda denicola

Budget trimming will lower
tax hike from 7.5 to 7 cents

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — It appears that members of the Township Committee and the Board of Education will agree on cuts to the board’s 2002-03 budget that will lower a projected 7.5-cent tax increase to 7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Municipal and school district officials met on April 26 to discuss making cuts in the defeated 2002-03 school budget.

According to Deputy Mayor David Salkin, officials discussed cuts that will trim one half-cent off the projected tax increase without affecting programs or staff.

As presented to the voters on April 16, the K-8 school district’s $34 million tax levy for the 2002-03 academic year would have resulted in an increase in the local school tax rate of 7.5 cent per $100 of assessed valuation.

The school district’s total budget for 2002-03 is proposed at $40.5 million.

To the owner of a home assessed at $100,000, a 7.5-cent hike would have resulted in a $75 increase in school taxes next year. To the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, the increase would have been $150 and to the owner of a home assessed at $300,000 the increase would have been $225.

If the tax rate increase now checks in at 7 cents per $100 the increases will be as follows: $70 on a house assessed at $100,000; $140 on a house assessed at $200,000; and $210 on a house assessed at $300,000.

In addition to the projected 7-cent increase in the tax rate to support the operating budget for 2002-03, residents will pay a 5.8-cent increase to cover the cost of debt service associated with the construction of a new elementary school on Route 537 near Wemrock Road. That increase is non-negotiable and not subject to cuts by the Township Committee.

Taken together (the operating budget increase and the debt service increase), residents will see a rise in the local school tax rate of about 12.8 cents, from $1.22 to about $1.34 per $100 of assessed valuation.

Board of Education Business Administrator Sean Boyce said no action was taken at the preliminary meeting because formal action requires the approval of the full school board. He said he expected that formal action would be taken on May 14 when the Township Committee holds a workshop meeting and the board holds a regular meeting.

Each body can vote separately, he explained.

The governing body has until May 20 to certify the taxes. If school district administrators decide not to appeal then that is all that is needed and a copy of the school budget will go to the county and the state.

Salkin said he and Committeeman Raymond Kershaw met with Boyce and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Peter Bastardo and came to an agreement on cuts that include postponing making certain purchases.

"We spoke at length with Dr. Bastardo. He showed us a list of things that could be postponed, things that do not affect the children," Salkin said. "We’re looking to cut approximately one half-cent off of the increase. There really wasn’t any pork in there to be trimmed. The problem is not enough state aid and a lot of state mandated programs, like special education, that are necessary, but expensive to the schools."

Salkin said the committee felt obligated to make some cuts because the voters, at least the small percentage that voted, turned down the budget in the April 16 election. But, he said, municipal officials did not want any cuts they made to negatively affect the children.

"There wasn’t anything there that we could lop off and say you really don’t need that," he said. "We have a great school system with a lot of interlocal service agreements (between the school board and the municipality) that save the taxpayers a lot of money. People that live here are proud of their school system, but they need to come out and vote."

Salkin said he thinks the defeated Freehold Township school budget was the result of two issues.

"Residents are angry with the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education and that spilled over onto the local budget vote and there’s a general anger with the way schools are funded because of the increases in property taxes," the committeeman said.

Salkin said he believes state representatives need to find a new way to fund education, one that does not have such a severe impact on property taxes.

The total budget of $40.5 million is up from the 2001-02 budget that totaled $37.5 million. The proposed budget provides for an additional 220 students; maintains and enhances current programs and activities; and adds new staff in order to accommodate increased enrollment. Staff additions are in the areas of regular education and special education classroom teachers, special education teacher assistants, speech and English as a Second Language teachers, additional guidance and nursing time, bus drivers and lunch aides.