Jamesburg receives no help with budgets
By: Al Wicklund
JAMESBURG The borough got disappointing news from the state this week.
The Board of Education and the Borough Council recently received state aid figures with increases that won’t have much impact on their budgets.
Board of Education President Don Peterson said Thursday the board will start this year’s budget process needing some $500,000 to balance its budget.
Mr. Peterson said the board will do its best to hold down the size of the budget, but without state aid increases contractual costs, including insurance and salaries and utility costs will have to be met through taxation.
Recently released state aid figures showed the Jamesburg School District getting a $59,790 increase in state school aid.
The Jamesburg School District is set to get state aid totaling $3,551,623, including $1.9 million in core curriculum aid, $62,488 in supplemental core curriculum aid, $268,810 in transportation aid, $619,687 in special education aid, $234,083 in early childhood program aid, $139,956 in demonstrably effective aid, $21,518 in stabilization aid and $93,481 in consolidated aid.
"An increase is nice, but we could use at least another $440,000. I’m sure the state is doing the best it can, but the numbers aren’t good, Mr. Peterson said.
Gov. James McGreevey told the state Legislature in his annual budget address that local school districts and municipal governments can’t expect state aid increases while the state is trying the balance its budget.
Last year, the school tax rate increased by 37.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, an annual tax increase of $458 on a house assessed at the borough average of $122,000.
"The state Department of Education gave us a waiver last year to spend above the state-imposed budget cap," Mr. Peterson said.
He said districts that spend above the cap can’t have a surplus. Consequently, the Jamesburg Board of Education took $230,000 from surplus and put it into the 2002-2003 budget.
"We won’t have that surplus to use this year," Mr. Peterson said, pointing out that the $230,000 surplus equals about 10 cents on the tax rate.
During the current school year, the state also directed the Jamesburg Board of Education to cut staff positions to make up for a $260,000 shortfall in the budget, which the board did.
At the time of the cuts, school officials said an unanticipated increase in the number of special education students who had to be in programs out-of-district accounted for a substantial part of the shortfall.
Mr. Peterson said the problem in meeting the costs of special education was compounded when the state announced that money to compensate districts for such expenditures won’t be available, thereby costing Jamesburg $90,000 in 2003-2004.
State aid for municipalities, announced by the state Department of Community Affairs, also offered Jamesburg taxpayers little to be happy about.
Borough Administrator Denise Jawidzik said the borough’s total aid of $600,178.66 included an increase of $17,196.
The aid includes $304,844 in Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid, $23,624 in Legislative Municipal Block Grants and $271,710 in Total Energy Receipt Tax Aid.
"That’s less than 1 cent on the tax rate; $23,600 represents 1 cent," Ms. Jawidzik said.
The borough administrator said all departments of the borough’s government have been directed to cut their budgets by 7 percent.
She said the 2003 budget is scheduled to be introduced at the Feb. 26 Borough Council meeting.

